CAIRO: A new attendance system, deducting 10 points of high school students’ grades over missing classes, was frozen per a Saturday decision by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, said a Cabinet press statement.
According to the ministry’s decision, the new attendance recording will be halted this year. The cabinet resolution comes after a wave of daily protests mounted by students nationwide demanding the annulment of the decision, which will oblige them to attend school.
The students created a hashtag, translated to High school students’ revolution (#ثورة_طلاب_الثانوية) that collected support of thousands of fellow students against the decision.
They have also launched a Facebook page, which has collected so far approximately 20K followers; the students used the page to coordinate with their colleagues demonstrating in other governorates.
Two weeks ago, the students began signing in electronically at schools as a strict attendance policy took effect; schools will deduct 10-point grades of their final scores over missing class days.
Thanaweya Amma is the Egyptian secondary (high school) education system, which students consider as their gateway to future universities. During this year, only scores that students garner from final standard exams are the only determiner in which college they will enroll.
With a lack of rules mandating attendance by pupils or faculty, according to previous statements by Education expert Ashraf Fadaly, many schools have reported classrooms empty of teachers and students.
The Cairo Post interviewed some high school students, who said the new decision would reduce their study time on this “decisive year.” They explained that they skip school during this year to study and attend private lessons, which they prefer over school teaching.
“If I attended school, then I would only have two hours per day to study, how come we study only two hours in Thanaweya Amma?!” Ahmed Mohamed, a student at Al-Saaedeya School, told The Cairo Post.
You can read more here about the e-attendance system and students’ opinions:
Are Egyptian high schools worthy of attendance?
High schoolers continue protest of new e-attendance system
E-attendance to be applied at Egyptian high schools as of Sunday