Govt amendments to education law approved as critics warn changes could worsen inequality

Mada

7 hours ago

Greenlighting major changes to the government school system, the House of Representatives gave final approval on June 8 to a set of amendments to the education law, prompting a renewed wave of criticism and objections from several MPs and rights organizations.
Critics have repeatedly flagged the amendments as a gateway to worsening existing inequalities in the system. The revisions 'perpetuate inequality and class discrimination as well as increase the burden on families,' the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights stated.
Outlined below are some of the key issues critics and lawmakers opposed to the newly amended law have raised in recent days
Roll out of new Egyptian baccalaureate without addressing core issues
When Education Minister Mohamed Abdel Lateef first introduced the concept of the new Egyptian baccalaureate, his plan for the secondary education curriculum as an alternative to the thanaweya amma, it was met with concerns.
The change, critics argued, would not tackle the core issues that have made learning difficult for children in Egypt's education system for years, such as classroom overcrowding, a shortage of teachers and underfunding.
The amendments approved on Tuesday include the replacement of the current system with the Egyptian baccalaureate, prompting the same concerns to resurface, with representatives from the Egyptian Democratic Party, the Wafd Party and the Justice Party citing them when they rejected the law in Monday's session.
The persistent issues of class overcrowding and chronic lack of teachers would make it impossible to implement the new curriculum, they said.
Head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party's parliamentary bloc, Ehab Mansour, said that 'the available data on the number of teacher shortages and the need for teachers,' as well as the government's 'usual lack of thorough studies' would hamper the new curriculum's success.'
Voicing similar concerns, Wafd Party representative Hany Abaza said that the project is not feasible and implementation will be problematic. 'How can the government implement it with these capabilities?'
In response, Abdel Lateef argued that 90 percent of public schools are ready to implement the new system, which he described as an 'unprecedented step.'
Playing down the infrastructural and staffing issues in Monday's plenary session, the minister said that '[public] schools have been ready for five years, and the problem with secondary schools was student absence.'
'We were able to bring back first-year and second-year secondary students, and with the implementation of the new system, we will bring back third-year secondary students, and of course, God willing, we are ready.'
Curriculum changes would compound existing teacher shortage
Among the curriculum changes that generated the most pushback were article 6, which will require students to pass high school exams in Arabic and religious education, with the latter requiring students to achieve 70 percent in examinations in order to pass.
Deputy coordinator of the Youth Parties Coalition, MP Amira al-Adly, said that a minimum pass grade of 70 percent would be unattainable for many students, adding that she had reviewed other national curricula and had found no evidence of pass grades being set so high elsewhere.
Teacher shortages would make it even harder for children to succeed in these subjects, according to the lawmakers and EIPR, both of whom argued that with the existing make-up of the school system, the change will entrench sectarian division between Muslims and Christians.
The need to teach religious studies is already compounding staffing shortages, EIPR said, citing a complaint from the Qalyubia governorate that Arabic language teachers are often forced to exceed legal quotas on the number of classes they teach without pay, 'as they receive no payment for the religious education class they give.'
Many schools employ teachers on a per-class basis to cover gaps in their permanent staff, using quotas to determine the number of classes these teachers give. Schools often stipulate that teachers must provide a number of 'voluntary' classes.
Mansour echoed EIPR's concern: 'Who will teach this subject? We were told that a number of teachers would be appointed to teach religion, and we have been waiting for years for 30,000 to be appointed. Where are the teachers? Where will they be based? Where is the budget for this amendment? Did it enter the budget? Where are the numbers?'
MP Mohamed Abdel Aziz, meanwhile, linked the teacher shortage to sectarian disparity in the curriculum. The government has not responded to demands for more teachers to be hired for Christian religious education, he said, meaning that there is 'neither enough teachers nor government capacity, and the government will fail to implement this commitment.'
EIPR also expressed concerns on the article's amendments, describing teaching methods as 'a blatant example of discrimination and sectarian segregation,' which it said are in violation of Article 19 of the Constitution that stipulates the establishment of concepts of citizenship, tolerance and non-discrimination.
Schools do not have teachers for Christian religious education at all, the rights organization said, adding that Christian students were forced on multiple occasions to take their classes in the schoolyard, which is not prepared for teaching, 'under the pretext that alternative places were lacking.'
Adly noted further that very few countries require religious studies to comprise a compulsory part of secondary education, naming Iran and Sudan as examples.
Commenting on the objections, the education minister said that the goal was to convey the message that religion is more important than any other subject.
Regarding the number of teachers, he said that it is estimated at 843,000. 'We had a shortage of 496,000 teachers last year. Currently, there is no class in a core subject that lacks a teacher in Egypt. We are hiring, and we have a plan to hire more than 100,000 teachers because a large percentage will retire,' he said.
Unequal access to education
Critics also pointed to changes in the law which they said will retrench the already major gap in access to education based on family income.
They pointed in particular to article 9, which grants the education minister full authority to establish experimental schools or specialized programs within public schools, as well as to authorize their implementation in private schools.
The legal amendment presents the alternative schools or programs as a space to experiment with new educational initiatives in preparation for their broader implementation.
But EIPR argued that the new alternative programs will only reinforce inequality by deepening the already existing difference of quality in educational services, and will therefore also increase the disparity of access among students in different programs.
There are already several alternative programs to the public education system, such as French, English and private school systems, EIPR said, which represent an already major disparity in educational quality and access.
Other critics also singled out article 24 as potentially worsening students' access to quality education. The amendment raises the rate of fees for exam retakes for secondary students to range between LE200 and LE2,000.
The article grants the education minister the authority to specify not only the fee amount, but also the grades and subjects that can be retaken, the number of retakes permitted — at least once per grade and twice per educational stage — and the exam dates.
MPs as well as EIPR argued that the increased exam retake fee, previously set between LE10 and LE20 in the 1981 law, will likewise widen the inequality gap by excluding students who cannot afford the costs from educational opportunities, undermining equal opportunity and fair competition among students.
Abdel Aziz, among others, recommended changes to the provision to restrict the minister's authority, but the recommendations were sidelined during the discussions.
The fee increase 'could hinder many families who cannot afford the fee, and limit students' ability to retake the exam,' he said.
In response to the objections, Fawzy argued that the monetary values set in the 1981 law are now outdated, but attempted to appease MPs with regards to the government's intentions, stressing that 'the stated meaning is that we should not re-amend the law in a short period of time.'
'No matter how high the fee is, does it generate real revenue for the state? No,' he said, arguing that it does, however, set 'a minimum threshold for seriousness and encourages the student to succeed on the first attempt.'
But the changes increase the financial barrier to learning, according to Planning and Budget Committee secretary, Abdel Moneim Imam, who said that, 'education in Egypt has shifted from being a constitutional right to a commodity.'
'What does the Egyptian citizen even get from you? ' he asked government representatives. 'They pay for everything — petrol, gas, electricity.'
He continued: 'Is this the same country that once educated the Greeks and the world, only to now become a place where a dancer can rise to fame while the country's educated minds leave and gain recognition abroad?'