The state can’t provide a decent standard education, and won’t tolerate anyone else trying to fill the gap: The Education Ministry announced a moratorium on licences for new international schools and will not allow any additional schools to begin teaching international curricula, Al Masry Al Youm reported. The moratorium will be in effect until the ministry reviews all of the applications it now has on its desk and (more ominously) until “new regulations are put in place.” A source at the ministry said the decision came after investigators “uncovered a number of financial, administrative, and criminal violations” at multiple schools. The source added that the ministry is “standing up” to the “mafia” controlling some schools, adding that “a large number” of international schools fail to teach patriotic or moral values — failing even to respect the Egyptian flag and the national anthem “even in secondary school.”

The ministry had placed at least four international schools under administrative and financial control back in March for alleged violations of regulations on tuition hikes and the collection of tuition in foreign currencies. The Education Ministry’s posturing comes after a wave of criticism against Education Minister El-Hilali El-Sherbini over the recent cheating scandal, with rumors swirling that the minister may be up for replacement in an upcoming cabinet shuffle.

Somehow, the decision hasn’t made it out to the governorates: Sohag plans to tender land to build 10 schools offering a Japanese curriculum, Al Mal reports. The plan to bring Japanese education models to Egypt came out President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s trip to Japan earlier this year.