Education ordeal

In a few days secondary school students will have finished their exams, writes Dena Rashed, but the phenomenal pain of the process -- it ain't over yet

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Clockwise from top: students taking their TA exam; a long standing tradition of teachers supervising students; in the 1970s exam papers were transported in bags; decades ago students faced the same TA stress

Looking at Sahar Zakaria, a mother of two, you'd think she was the one taking the thanawiya amma (TA) exams. It's actually her daughter. For two years now Zakaria has been following up on her daughter's studies, making sure she does her work and, well, worrying. For her part Heba Khaled, said daughter, is significantly more relaxed: "I've been TA mode for two years, I'm sort of used to its kind of stress by now." But having obtained an average grade of 64 per cent last year, Khaled is already aware that her state-university options are already limited. "I will probably attend a private plastic arts institution, or maybe the Higher Cinema Institute, although I heard the latter needs a wasta [intervention from a powerful connection]." Zakaria realises Khaled will not get a higher grade this year, but she has not stopped arranging for her to have private tuition. "At school," she explains, "they send them off at 11am. Without private tutors, I don't know where she would've been now. Nor could the teachers do their job if they tried -- they will have another round of private classes at night." Teaching has already deteriorated since her elder son graduated from the same school four years ago: "he too got private lessons but it was to improve his grade as much as possible to get him a place at the state university of his choice; teachers paid far more attention to their students then." In the end, ironically, the son went to a private university.

In the last few weeks some 800,500 students have been under extraordinary pressure memorising or doing last-minute revision, but, due to this peculiar development of contemporary Egyptian society, TA has become such a family affair they will not have been alone in that predicament. Still, TA is as much about money as anything: Zakaria estimates that, while her son's TA cost LE5,000, her daughter's will come to 13,000: "It's incredibly expensive." Much of this money goes towards private tuition, which is no longer as private as it once was. Centres cater to up to 30 students per class paying LE30-50 per lesson; last-minute revision classes at the home are upward of LE60. But the number of students attending, Khaled says, does not affect her choice of class: "it's the teacher that counts." Private tuition still peaks at exam times but often it will start months before; the frenzy is such that Khaled has had to attend mathematics classes at five in the morning, four hours before the exam, with a colleague at her house: "we had to finish revising everything before the exam started," she laughs.

Studying takes many forms -- group café outing, solo sporting club session -- but the emotional effect is always the same. According to Nouran Ziad, another TA student, "I haven't been out with friends for two months. My dad asks me to take a break but I don't because I know it will only mean losing time which I will have to make up for later on." Entertainment is reduced to the very occasional home movie or a few minutes online. TA may not be all that difficult, she concedes -- "stressed out students make TA sound scarier than it is and that fear is transmitted to everyone" -- but she will sacrifice anything for the excellent grades required by the Faculty of Pharmacy. Even 0.5 per cent can control access to the faculty of your choice or even a university in your own governorate. At the end of it all, do the students remember all that much, however? Like so many other students, Khaled can hardly recall any of what she has learned by the time she finishes an exam; the system still works through rote learning. This year, typically enough, education officials have announced that only 15 per cent of a given exam paper will address a truly qualified student, with the rest testing knowledge of the curriculum. This in itself is not sufficient for reassuring the parents, however.

In fact the hubbub is such that news of how each exam went, which question was tougher, is ardently reported and followed: " thanawiya amma syndrome", as commentators have called it. Parents are all too eager to help their children through this extremely stressful phase and into the institution of their choice. To help make the lives of both students and parents easier, the government is in the process of attempting, yet again, to improve the system. The proposed changes may worry some even more, however, as so many past changes have. "Educational reform in Egypt is ineffective," says Ahmed Saad, head of the Educational Research and Planning Department at the National Centre for Education and Development. The reason, as he explains, is that the approach to reform has always been partial. "Real reform has to be comprehensive, we can't just focus on secondary school and leave the rest untouched. Reform has to start from kindergarten and go all the way up to university." Saad points out how TA has yet to undergo genuine development: "discussions of subjects and specialisations were too narrow, there was no real focus on the role of TA in particular. Besides, these reform discussions are a matter of opinion; there are no general organisational plans." He regards TA as an old depleted system that has become destiny, and at the same time as a direct reason behind the spread of private lessons, for which parents still fall.

Most importantly, the split in specialisations, into arts, science and mathematical science on one hand, and the split into vocational and high school systems have both had serious implications for society. "The split between vocational and secondary school has led to another one in the society, making the former for the poorer and the latter for the better off. That led society to downgrade the importance of workers and vocational skills, the true basis of any renaissance." The other split, for its part, is the reason why students lack a broader approach to knowledge. More students are interested in the arts department, with only 30 per cent enrolling in science in 2007. For many this choice translates to an easy ride through TA, but things are not that simple. And whether or not they go for art, millions and millions are yet to be subject to that national malady.