Egypt mandates 20% of total grades of American Diploma, int’l high school students for Arabic, history

CAIRO – 30 August 2024: Minister of Education Mohamed Abdel Latif has issued new decisions mandating that all schools operating in Egypt, which confer international high school certificates, include the teaching of Arabic and history as integral components of students' overall grades.

According to these directives, students pursuing an American diploma and those attending schools offering international high school certificates will have Arabic and history account for 20 percent of their total grades in addition to their performance in other subjects.

For American Diploma students, 40 percent of their grades will be based on their GPA, another 40 percent on the final international and American exams, with the remaining 20 percent allocated for Arabic and history as per the new rules.

International high school students will see Arabic and history each contribute 10 percent to their grades, with these subjects assessed through general exams organized by the ministry.

All grades involved

Furthermore, the minister announced that students in international school systems will study Arabic, history, and religion from Grade 10 until their final grades, aligning with the national high school system (Thanaweya Amma).

In addition, these schools are required to teach Arabic to kindergarten students, and Arabic and religion to students from Grade 1 to Grade 3 or their equivalents.

From Grade 4 to Grade 9, students will also study social studies alongside Arabic and religion. The directives specify that students' scores in each of these grades will include 20 percent for both Arabic and social studies.

Recent game-changing decisions

These directives follow closely on the heels of earlier decisions by the minister, which sparked widespread public debate about their implications for students at the time, given their impact across various grades, including Thanaweya Amma.

One notable change from the mid-August directives is the transition of the second foreign language, primarily French or German, into a pass-fail subject for all Thanaweya Amma branches, moving away from being a core subject as it was previously.

Furthermore, geology for the science branch and psychology in the literature branch will be transformed into pass-fail subjects, while the mathematics branch will see the consolidation of pure and applied mathematics into a singular subject.

Under the new curriculum, students in the three branches will engage in five subjects in the upcoming school year instead of the previous seven, with Arabic and the first foreign language (typically English or French) being shared subjects.

Moreover, the science and mathematics branches will continue to include chemistry and physics, with the science branch also covering biology, the mathematics branch covering math, while the literature branch will continue to include history, geography, besides statistics as a newly introduced subject.

The minister also outlined various changes to the first and second years of secondary education (Grade 10 and 11), including the transition of the second foreign language into a pass-fail subject.