“‘Military helicopters to carry Thanawiya Amma exam papers to the governorates'. Can you believe it, Dad?" asked my child almost hysterically, as she pointed to the headline in the nation's flagship newspaper. "This is too much. Are we in for a battle?" she added, as she looked haggard on the eve of the final-year exams for the nationwide General Secondary School Certificate, which started on Saturday amidst the traditional media frenzy. Before I could utter a word, the Minister of Education popped up on the TV screen to declare that everything is in good shape for around 470,000 Egyptian pupils to sit these crucial pre-university exams, the mere mention of which usually sends shivers down the spines of the candidates and their parents. "I advise the pupils and their parents to be calm and not to panic," added the Minister, known for his tough policies, in a televised address. "How can I keep calm under all this stress?" asked my child while surrounded with mountains of exam model papers and textbooks. "This will drive me mad. I can't take it any longer." I hastily switched to another TV channel and, before I could utter a word, a famous, soft-spoken nutrionist appeared on a talk show and, you've guessed it, the topic was none other than ‘What our dear schoolchildren should eat on the eve of the exams'! "This must be a conspiracy. Don't they have something else to talk about? They're really getting on my nerves, Dad," said my child, as she got down to some last-minute swatting for the Thanawiya Amma exams, going over everything she's learnt since last summer. Hardly had I turned off the TV set than my wife stormed out of the kitchen, shocked by our child's desperate cry. "What have you done to the girl?" asked my wife in an uncompromising tone. "I've told you a hundred times not to bring home any newspapers or switch on the television during the ‘state of emergency'," she continued. "If you aren't concerned about her doing well in the final exams, you should be concerned about the serious money you've had to spend on her private lessons since last August." All the family's plans for visiting relatives and friends or going to the seaside for a bit of relaxation have been put on hold until these high-profile, nerve-racking tests are out of the way. Again, before I could utter another word, a friend of my wife called her seeking advice for her daughter, also a Thanawiya Amma candidate, who had just started vomiting, obviously due to her fears about the forthcoming exams. But, before my wife could offer some advice, she dropped the handset as our daughter collapsed on the floor.
