Students to study English before secondary level: Educ. Min.

CAIRO – 5 May 2018: Egypt’s Ministry of Education clarified that according to the new system expected to be applied starting with the coming 2018/2019 academic year, all students are going to study the English language properly as a separate subject during their basic education years.

On its official Facebook page on Friday, the ministry stated that English during the primary years will include advanced vocabulary, such as mathematics and science idioms; however, starting with secondary education, students will be able to study other subjects, such as science, in English instead of Arabic.

“The new curriculum was agreed upon by well-known experts who affirmed that the students will be able to study their new English subjects by their secondary education if they have the needed knowledge and vocabulary, as everything happens gradually during learning any new languages,” the ministry stated.



Earlier, a debate arose as a result of announcing that students, especially in the experimental language schools, will not study their subjects in English as had previously been the case, and that all of the curriculum will be Arabized during the basic education years.

The decision caused anger, especially among the middle class, who believe that a step like this could deepen social stratification.

“We recognize that the country has a new vision for developing the education system; however, we don’t think that Arabizing the curriculum of the experimental language schools is the right choice for its development. Frankly, we felt anger shortly after knowing the government’s new intentions regarding the governmental language schools, which will turn into other ordinary governmental Arabic schools,” Abeer Ahmed, founder of Egypt’s Mothers Association for Education Development, said in statement issued Tuesday, May 1.

Ahmed explained that according to the ministry’s new decision, the students will study everything in Arabic only, until they finish their basic education, which she and other members of the association consider unfair. “When students start their secondary education at the experimental language schools, they will start studying other subjects, such as mathematics and science, in the English language instead of Arabic for the first time,” Ahmed added in her statement.

She believes it would be difficult for students to start studying new subjects in English after six years of using only Arabic in schools.