Educational reforms cuts revolutionary events

CAIRO – 18 June 2017: In an attempt to introduce educational reforms for the Egyptian High School System ( Known in Arabic as Thanawya Amma), the Ministry of Education has removed parts referring to both January 25 and June 30 revolutions out of the History subject curriculum.

The move was recommended by a committee tasked with educational curriculum reforms. Official source at the Ministry said existence of topics related to the causes and results of the June 30 Revolution “may cause more troubles and problems both in schools and during setting exams,” according to a press statement.

“Documenting historical events needs at least 15 years,” the source added.

The Ministry of Education has also noted that including lessons about both revolutions before “was not meant to document history, but just to narrate events.” He explained that the July 23 Revolution in 1952 will be the last uprising mentioned in the new history curriculum.

Such educational reforms were introduced within the Ministry’s attempt to create new curricula for different school grades.

In 2016, a group of parents launched an online campaign against the mandated school curriculum, demanding to consider their concerns and inputs as part of the Ministry’s reforms plans.

In 2014, the Ministry of Education annulled amendments incorporated by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood on the educational curriculums. For example, a high school course titled "The Difference between a Revolution and a Coup" was removed. Officials also ordered to stop printing psychology and sociology textbook over the same reason.

In May, Minister of Education Tareq Shawqy revealed his plans for adopting a new “cumulative grading system” for high schools in Egypt (known in Arabic as Thanaweya Amma), the gateway to universities in the country. Shawky said that the cumulative grading system will replace the current one, where the grades of only one year determine which university the student will enter.

The minister criticized the one-year scoring system as ’illogical,’ before adding that it will be replaced by a cumulative grading system of three high school years.

This way, the students “will have a chance to improve their grades each year,” Shawky explained.