Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education and Technical Education, held a discussion session with editors of the education file in newspapers and websites. To review all the details of the decisions that were taken over the past months in favor of the educational process, the session also comes within the framework of the community dialogue on the “Proposal for the Egyptian Baccalaureate Certificate.”
The Minister stressed, at the beginning of the meeting, the importance of listening to different points of view, pointing to the role of the media as a strategic partner in clarifying issues to public opinion, providing accurate and objective information, and combating rumors that may affect the progress of the educational process, noting that the Ministry is keen on the participation of all parties in making decisions that affect the future of education in Egypt, enhancing transparency and clarifying all the efforts and projects implemented by the Ministry to develop the educational process.
During the meeting, the Minister spoke about the decisions that were taken during the past six months, which developed positive and constructive solutions to the chronic challenges of the educational process, which continued for about 30 years. Yearly, including student densities, which used to reach 120 students per class and currently have reached less than 50 students, as well as addressing the problem of the shortage in the numbers of teachers, especially in basic subjects, as well as the student attendance rate, which reaches Currently, it has reached more than 85%, after it did not exceed 9%, stressing that reaching solutions to these challenges was the result of visits to more than 300 schools, meetings with more than 15 thousand school principals, and everyone coming together to build the plans that were implemented in order to solve those challenges. Problems on the ground, saying: “We succeeded in confronting these challenges by 99%.”
The minister pointed out that the educational system includes more than 25 million students and about one million And 200 thousand teachers, and there are mechanisms and controls for the system that are present and strong, stressing that despite the increase in attendance in schools, problems within schools have decreased and are almost non-existent as a result of the mechanisms of the learning process becoming disciplined and there is always a process of continuous reform and evaluation through the participatory roles of all those in charge of the system, whether from Students, teachers, or the media, and all those concerned with the educational process.
Regarding the program of weekly evaluations and classroom performances, the Minister of Education explained that this system is applied globally, explaining The assignments were unified at the republic level, including the class booklet, schoolwork, and weekly evaluations, and this mechanism was implemented in the current academic year in public public schools for the sake of a good educational process.
In this context, the Minister stressed that the student’s interest is The main motive behind all the decisions taken by the Ministry, and there are no decisions made individually at all, but all decisions come after study, opinion poll, and research with all levels of implementing the decision. Therefore, the decision to evaluate students in the first and second grades was made, in order to preserve Their integration into the educational process, and to avoid major interruptions at this young age, which is an important foundation stage, adding that for the same motive came the decisions to increase the number of school days to be 173 days this year.
With regard to the expansion in the number of schools and classrooms, The Minister explained that 150,000 classrooms were built in general education schools in the past ten years, bringing the number of classrooms to 480,000 educational classrooms. Therefore, what was built and developed is considered a third of what was built in Egyptian schools over decades, but only this year was it created. 98 thousand classrooms, bringing the total number of classrooms to 580 thousand educational classrooms, noting that classrooms have been built in many remote areas in different governorates. This is to serve our students.
Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif noted that there are 3,000 schools operating on a double-shift system nationwide, out of 60,000 schools, in governorates that witness high densities, led by Cairo and Giza, noting that during In the coming period, solutions will be put forward to reduce the double-shift operation of schools resulting from the high student density in some schools.
With regard to overcoming the deficit in the number of teachers, the Minister explained that the quorum is distributed in a way that ensures justice among teachers, so that The quorum ranges between (16 and 24) classes according to the teacher’s cadre. As for senior teachers, they are required to have 16 classes, which is equivalent to three classes a day, knowing that the school day includes seven classes. Teachers who exceed the quorum receive an immediate financial allowance estimated at 50 pounds for each additional class, and this represents one way to increase teachers’ income.
Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif revealed that an evaluation of the performance of directors of educational directorates would be conducted during the current month.
The Minister also presented, During the meeting, he gave an introductory explanation of the reasons behind proposing the proposal for the “Egyptian Baccalaureate” certificate system, explaining that in light of the challenges that faced the educational system in Egypt, especially secondary education, where secondary schools lacked student attendance and academic subjects, which numbered 32 subjects, Which does not exist in any country in the world, which negatively affected the quality of education and the academic climate, adding that the large number of study subjects was causing great pressure on students, in addition to this amount of study subjects also causing teachers to be unable to finish… The curriculum was on time, which prompted some students to resort to external sources, which represents a financial burden on parents. In addition, there was not enough time to teach students the necessary life skills, which affected the integration of the educational process.
< p>The Minister continued that from this standpoint, it was necessary to think about a quick and preliminary measure for this problem, which came by reducing the number of subjects prescribed for the secondary stage, then presenting a complete vision for this new proposal and presenting it to community dialogue in preparation for presenting it to the House of Representatives, stressing that this proposal Ultimately, it aims to improve the quality of education and reduce the burden on students, noting that the proposal was put forward after developing thoughtful plans for educational systems around the world by experts, members of the National Council for Educational Research, and professors of colleges of education, in addition to holding intensive sessions to study this proposal in cooperation with the Supreme Council. For universities, to ensure that the new system is compatible with academic standards and meets the needs of students, as well as keeping pace with international education systems in order to improve the outcomes of that stage in line with the needs of the labor market.
Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif added that From this standpoint, the idea of having a good educational system was born that gives the student the opportunity and ability to decide his destiny, choose and determine his path, recognize his abilities and skills, and work to develop them in order to achieve his goal. His success in it depends on his skills, competencies, and capabilities, and this represents a main goal for which the new system was introduced. The second goal is to distribute the study load during this stage over two academic years and not one academic year, adding that the ministry also relied on the results of previous experiments and studies to develop the secondary school.
The minister revealed that The new Egyptian baccalaureate system consists of 7 subjects over two academic years, and the student has the right to take the exam in the subject twice per academic year. It also gives him the right to determine and modify his course in accordance with his capabilities. Also, settling on an equal score of 100 for all subjects came to ensure that the basic subjects Of equal importance, in addition to reducing the burden on parents and removing the psychological pressure that afflicts many of them every year due to the high school system.
With regard to the subject of religious education and adding it to the total, the Minister explained The curriculum of the Islamic religion is developed by Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, while the curriculum of the Christian religion is developed by the Church, and both curricula carry all the lofty values, ethics and principles in accordance with the general framework set by the ministry, and they are presented to the central administration for curriculum development in the ministry to measure the relative weight of the two curricula, adding that the main goal of Adding religious education to the total is preserving religion, values and ethics among students and facing challenges in light of openness to the world.
Mr. Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif also revealed that the Ministry intends to amend the law to include the subject of religion in The total as a basic subject for all levels starting from the next academic year.
Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif went on to say that the new baccalaureate system in which the content of the curriculum is linked to the vision of developing the educational system, indicating that it is necessary for the curricula to be subject to development every period in line with The developments that are presented in the labor market, which is witnessing the creation of new jobs and requires qualified people with superior abilities and qualifications, and this is what we are trying to make available through the vision presented for this important educational stage.
During the meeting, the Minister of Education responded to The education file editors made inquiries about the executive mechanisms for the decisions taken by the ministry during the past months. He was also keen to clarify all questions about the proposal for the Egyptian baccalaureate certificate and listened to their opinions and suggestions about the proposal.
For their part, the education file editors appreciated the keenness of the Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif for presenting the Egyptian Baccalaureate certificate proposal for community dialogue and clarifying all the decisions, mechanisms and details related to the Egyptian Baccalaureate certificate proposal in a way that contributes to clarifying its details to public opinion in a professional framework. And building.
