New educational system not to be applied in 2019 academic year

CAIRO – 9 May 2018: The Ministry of Education will not apply the decision to Arabize the curriculum of the experimental language schools for the 2018/2019 academic year, and the new educational system will be implemented at Japanese and public Arabic schools only for the 2018/2019 academic year.

Minister of Education Tarek Shawki announced on his Facebook account that the new educational system will be applied to the basic education for the 2018/2019 academic year at Japanese and public Arabic schools only.

“In the summer of 2019, the High Council of Pre-University Education will evaluate the first year of the new educational system [applied to Japanese and public schools] and will consult the experimental and private schools to implement this system starting from kindergarten in the 2020/2021 academic year,” remarked Shawki.



Egypt’s Ministry of Education clarified on May 5 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.