Shawki, Abdel Ghaffar Respond to High School Result Complaints

Since the announcement of the high school result 2021, social media, press, and media highlighted complaints by parents, which was somewhat shocking compared to previous years, despite the warnings the Ministry of Education and Technical Education gave since the introduction of the “tablet” system.

The biggest question before the Ministries of Education, Technical Education, Higher Education, and Scientific Research was, how do top colleges accept such low results? the answer to the question was in the conference to announce the results of the general secondary school, which brought together the ministers of education and higher education.

Comparing the high school results for this year with previous years, whoever obtained 70% in high school for this year represents a person who obtained 90% in the previous years, as the average grades dropped by about 20%.

This was confirmed by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, during the Egyptian family’s breakfast, reassuring parents and high school students that all students have a place in Egyptian universities, regardless of their lower grades, as a student may get 90 % and can still enroll in the Faculty of Medicine according to the overall GPA among other students.

"Developing a system is about improving the educational process, not torture families," Sisi pointed out, adding that the examination method and procedures taken to change the assessment system were necessary, especially since it has been unchanged for the past 50 years.

Tarek Shawki, Minister of Education and Technical Education said during the conference that students should not compare the exam results with the old ones.

Shawki explained that for the Literary genre, none of the students obtained a total of 95% or above, as for the Scientific genre, about 20,190 students scored rates from 90-95%. Last year, the number of students who obtained 95% were about 90,000. students, while the ones above 90% were about 90,000 students, and above 85% were about 250,000 students.

As for this year, there was a change in grades, where about 70,000 students got 85%, indicating that the correct evaluation accurately determines the difference in the level of performance between those who obtained a degree of 80% or more, and those with 65% and 70%, which is considered a good total this year.

The minister referred to the result of high school 2021, announcing the beginning of the end of the myth of high aggregates that parents are accustomed to, stressing that there is no return to high aggregates and that this will be the education system in Egypt in the following years.

The minister of education confirmed that all acts of cheating and leakage in exams were controlled and dealt with by the legal affairs, and 582 students were transferred to the public prosecution for investigations.

He pointed out that the new system succeeded in evaluating and achieving the sorting of performance levels, in an accurate scientific manner that allows the ministry to set the seats in universities more accurately.

In response to the problems recently discussed by parents and students following the announcement of the results, Abdel Ghaffar announced that there is no current problem in the number of students admitted to higher education institutions, stressing that Egypt has worked recently to inaugurate many different types of higher education; to accommodate student numbers to fit within all educational institutions.

Abdel Ghaffar stressed that Egypt has entered new types of higher education institutions, such as the establishment of an international branch campuses (IBC) inside Egypt, in addition to the establishment of new international private universities. He also touched on the file of technical education, which has been neglected for many years; despite its importance for the future of the labor market.

He said in the statistics of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research that the ministry receives from the Ministry of Education 650,000 students from high school who will be enrolled in the first batches of universities and institutes, in addition to nearly 600,000 students from technical diplomas.

To accommodate this number of students, the minister confirmed that Egypt currently has 307 higher education institutions, including: “27 public universities, 30 universities, 3 technological universities, 4 university institutions hosting branches of international universities, 44 above-average technical institutes in 8 colleges of technology, Zewail University of Science and Technology, 6 universities with international agreements, 2 universities with framework agreements, as well as Sadat Academy for Administrative Sciences, and 189 high and medium institutes.

"During the past 7 years, 80 new educational institutions were included with investments of about 150 billion pounds, and now we have 27 public universities that include 499 colleges and institutes 450 programs, and 26 private universities that include 260 colleges and programs, as well as 4 new international private universities that include 43 colleges and 121 programs, 3 universities of technology, including 3 faculties and 9 programs."

"We have 5 branches of international universities in the New Administrative Capital, including the University of Canada , University of Coventry , University of Hertfordshire, European University (EUE), German University (GUC), in addition to 233 private and public upper-middle-level institutes."