CAIRO: A wave of protests by high school students took place Wednesday i10 governorates, against a Ministry of Education decision to deduct 10 points of total students’ scores over missing classes, Youm7 reported.
Students gathered outside the headquarters of the ministry, educational directorates and schools, demanding the cancellation of the decision.
The decision will oblige high school (known in Arabic as Thanaweya Amma) students to attend classes. Many students reject the decision because they say they want to save time to study and attend their private classes on the year they consider their gateway to universities.
During their final academic year, scores that students earn from their final standard exams are the only determiner of their future college. Since this is the case, many of them skip classes and attend private lessons, which they prefer over their schools’ teaching, according to previous statements to The Cairo Post.
For the ministry to apply the decision, it announced applying electronic attendance system at all schools as of Oct. 11.
Olfat Abdel Raheem, Undersecretary of Education Ministry in Qalubiya governorate, told Youm7 that she has referred 66 teachers to investigations for not applying the e-attendance on the students.
According to Raheem, the students protesting the 10-grade deduction Wednesday will be counted as absent.
An anonymous official source at the Ministry of Education told Youm7 that, since the application of the decisions, dozens of the students have requested to convert from their governmental schools to private schools, especially in Giza and Cairo.
You can read more about the new attendance decision here: