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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Special Travel Sports People Features Living Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters New history for new millennium
By Amira HoweidyIn what is considered an official acknowledgement that the history curricula taught in the nation's schools for the past 30 years are inaccurate and incomplete, Education Minister Hussein Kamel Bahaeddin has announced plans to rewrite school texts. A committee of eminent historians has been established to make the required changes gradually. Committee members hope that the changes will be finalised and taught in schools by the year 2001.
The modifications, say committee members, will cover all three historical stages: ancient, Middle Ages and modern. Observers view the changes in the ancient stage as the most significant because they will introduce, for the first time, a considerable part of the Coptic era (61-641 AD) when Christianity prevailed in Egypt before the Arab conquest.
"It has become necessary, after repeated press criticism, to introduce real changes in the history curricula," historian Abdel-Azim Ramadan, the committee's chairman, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The minister has responded positively and decided to establish this committee to make the necessary changes."
However, this is no easy job. And this is why the changes will be made in three stages. The first stage, almost close to completion, is to detect the mistakes in the current curricula in all three stages of school education -- primary, preparatory and secondary. The mistakes are corrected and the corrections are sent to all schools for immediate implementation. In the second stage, the committee will focus on filling the "gaps" in the Pharaonic, Coptic and modern eras. The third stage will see the completed new curricula being taught in schools by 2001.
The committee includes such eminent historians and history professors as Yunan Labib Rizk, Hassanein Rabie, Zebeida Atta, Gaballah Ali Gaballah, Gamal Hammad, Raouf Abbas and Ali Radwan.
Before the formation of the committee, the Education Ministry followed what critics described as an unprofessional policy in the selection of school history books. Competitions were advertised in newspapers, inviting authors to submit their books to the ministry and promising an award to the best book. To Ramadan, this meant that "anyone who read a few history books could end up being the author of a book that is part of the official curricula." This, he said, "resulted in numerous historical mistakes in the curricula, which is what should have been anticipated from this selection process." But now reputable historians are scrutinising the current curricula before introducing the changes in two years.
What are the changes they are making? It is premature to say right now, maintains Ramadan, but there are obvious things such as re-phrasing the names of certain historical periods in addition to removing unnecessary details that put off students.
According to Rizk, committee member and a historian of modern Egypt, the Education Ministry made history non-obligatory for secondary schools' second and third-year students two years ago. The surprising result was that only 10 per cent of students opted to take the course. The remaining 90 per cent had obviously been put off. This, Rizk said, drew the attention of many to the dire need to alter the syllabus. But this decision was taken only after a politically-oriented press campaign was launched against the syllabus for completely ignoring certain historical stages in Egyptian history, basically the Coptic era. Ultimately, the decision was made to make the history course compulsory and establish the committee.
The philosophy behind the changes to be made, say committee members, is to introduce topics on the history of Egyptians, not only Egypt's rulers, that also highlight events of "national unity."
They also argue that the changes are not based on a political decision, although they were spurred by the political climate. "We find that part of ancient history comes under the name of Byzantine Egypt, although it should be called the Coptic era," Ramadan said. "This creates a misunderstanding among students, who graduate knowing nothing about the role of the Coptic Church in preserving the national identity under Byzantine rule."
To Rizk, the principle of teaching students the history of those who ruled Egypt, and not the history of Egyptians, is unacceptable.
The changes and the philosophy behind the amendments are set against a background of outspoken foreign concern for the conditions of Copts and more discreet local efforts to deal with the problems facing them. Many Egyptians have reacted angrily to foreign reports on the alleged persecution of Copts as well as to a US bill, passed last November, giving Washington the right to impose sanctions against countries that discriminate against minorities. According to a State Department report, Egypt is among 77 countries accused of being discriminatory against a minority.
Apart from the decision to modify the curriculum, efforts are being made to respond to the foreign allegations. A case in point was a two-day seminar organised last week by the Supreme Cultural Council's history and antiquities committee on "The National Role of the Egyptian Church Across the Ages." The speakers, mostly members of the history curricula committee, dealt with various topics, focusing primarily on the coexistence between Islam and Christianity and the fact that for six centuries all Egyptians were Copts before the Islamic conquest in 641AD. The Council, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Culture, was sending across the message that Muslims and Christians together constitute the national fabric.
But the message was not completely welcome news to the mainly Christian audience, with several commentators protesting what they called the "attempts to falsify history and polish Muslim-Christian relations." The seminar, however, was viewed by its organisers as a "step in the right direction."
Another initiative, which received much attention from the press, was made by the Ibn Khaldoun Centre for Developmental Studies to suggest modifications to the history, religion and national education curricula. According to the centre's director, Saadeddin Ibrahim, the aim of his NGO is to find and promote a common ground for both Muslims and Christians, so that the two sides "acknowledge and tolerate each other."
The Minister of Education met with the centre's executive council several times to discuss their initiative. This NGO has been viewed with suspicion since it called, in 1994, for a conference on the issue of minorities, triggering a counter press campaign that denounced the concept of labelling Egypt's six million Copts a minority.
"The minister has the right to meet with them and we have the right to reject what they are suggesting," Rizk said. "They [Ibn Khaldoun Centre] want a Coptic history and an Islamic history, which is a different philosophy from ours because it cancels the concept of a history for all Egyptians."
For his part, Ramadan affirmed the impartiality of his committee, emphasising that its approach was strictly scientific and devoid of any ideological or political orientations.
