JEDDAH: Parents of Egyptian students with secondary school certificates from Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries complain that Egypt does not recognize the certificates. As a result, in order to enroll in an Egyptian university, students have to sit for another examination in Egypt that covers their entire secondary school education.
Talking to Arab News, a number of parents expressed their intention to end their working contracts in the Kingdom so they can return to Egypt and their children can study the Egyptian curriculum and eventually enroll in universities there.
"The instructions issued by the Egyptian education minister are not only impossible, but also crippling," a parent said. He did not want his name to be published.
Under the new instructions, all Egyptian students who studied outside their country have to sit for an "evaluation" exam before they are considered for admission in a university. The exams cover all three years of the secondary level.
Wael Abdul Azim, an Egyptian student who obtained his secondary school certificate in the Kingdom this year, said the evaluation examination covered five main subjects: Chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology and English language. "All three secondary years will be squeezed in a 90-minute examination, which practically means a minute for each question," he said.
Wael described the examinations as exhausting and said all students had already studied these subjects and passed their examinations in the Kingdom. He noted that there were no great differences between syllabuses in the two countries.
Al-Sayed Osman, father of a female student who obtained her certificate from a government secondary school in Makkah, called for equality between Egyptian students who obtained their secondary school certificates in Egypt and outside. "There should not be any disparity as long as the syllabuses are similar," he said.
Osman said students with certificates from outside had to pay 2,000 Egyptian pounds in university fees, while those who obtained their certificates in Egypt were exempted from this.
Maysarah Abu Talib, an Egyptian student in his final secondary school year at a government school in Jeddah, called for abolishing the evaluation examination. If it had to be done, he said, it should only be in mathematics and Arabic language. "The results of this exam should not be more than 10 to 20 percent of the aggregate," he added.
Mahmoud Kilani, an Egyptian teacher and father of a secondary school girl student, criticized the percentage of places reserved for Egyptian students coming from Gulf countries at Egyptian universities. "This percentage is hardly four percent, and sometimes goes as low as two percent," he said.
A number of Egyptian students with secondary school certificates from the Kingdom and other countries recently organized demonstrations in Alexandria protesting the minister's decision.
© Arab News 2011
