All you need to know about Cumulative Secondary System

CAIRO – 12 March 2019:The educational methods that have been applied for decades have become futile.

Education should never be attached to a student's ability to memorize information. Its core is how to get real benefits from information.

Additionally, curricula should be based upon information that are applicable in life and reflect reality. Turning from obsolete traditional ways of learning towards promising cognitive and perceptual learning is the only solution for the educational crisis.

In light of the serious trials to upgrade the educational system, the Ministry of Education led by Minister Tarek Shawki proposed the Cumulative Secondary Educational System, a radical shift towards innovation and development.

The cumulative system is applied on 2018/2019 class across Egypt's schools except international ones. It is based on using tablets and the open-book strategy to better address students' minds and interests.

To eliminate private lessons, the minister of education established only one educational platform"The Knowledge Bank"which is accessible for all students and includes all types of questions in all subjects and their model answers.

Also, in The Knowledge Bank information is simplified and explained through schemes, mind maps, diagrams, pictures, and charts to make curricula easier for students.

The secondary stage includes 12 exams, four exams each year and two exams per semester. All these exams are experimental and aim to evaluate the students' abilities. The students'score in each subject will be the average of a year's four exams' results.

At the end of the first secondary stage, students will have to specialize in the literary section or scientific section.

The first secondary stage's exams will not affect the overall grade; students should only pass to attend the next year.

Here are some of the secondary stage students' opinions on the new educational system:

"I think that the new educational system is good and facilitates the complicated parts in the curriculum,"Farah Nagy, 16, said.

"I hate physics; it is vague and incomprehensible; however, I want to be a doctor. My dream seems to be impossible because i have to get very high grades to join the faculty of medicine.But after applying the educational system,joining a prestigious faculty does not depend on the score anymore," Khaled Refaat, 17, indicated.

"I myself do not study at allthanks to the open book strategy that encourages students to cheat," Magda Reda, 16,said.

"The Ministry of Education does its best to upgrade the educational process. 'Thanaweya Amma' stage has been a nightmare for all students, yet Minister Shawki adopted techniques to make it easier. Parents used to pay thousands for private lessons to guarantee their students' excellence. The new accumulative educational system will put an end for all private centers because students will not need it," Ahmed Shaker, a high school student's parent, stated.