Education Minister Tarek Shawki stole the limelight on the airwaves last night, with much of the coverage dedicated to poring over the ministry’s newly-announced plans for the coming school year.

Plans for new academic year: Shawki called in to Yahduth Fi Misr’s Sherif Amer to explain that the restrictions are allowing the ministry to roll-out plans it has been mulling for as long as two years. Each school will still have its own system, deciding at its own discretion how many of the ministry’s recommendations it will follow, and will inform parents of the exact schedules once the academic year starts, he added (watch, runtime: 24:41). Al Hayah Al Youm’s Khaled Abu Bakr also spoke with Shawky to cover the topic watch, runtime: 35:03). We have a complete rundown of the ministry’s recommendations in today’s Speed Round below.

Other key takeaways from the Shawki interview:

• Measures to prevent leaks: Computer software will generate four different final high school (thanaweya amma) exams to prevent questions from being leaked.
• The digital divide: There will be digital resources made available to help students prepare for the examinations, which will necessitate setting up digital libraries in poor villages lacking adequate internet.

Covid-19 precautions in schools: Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa spoke with former health minister Ashraf Hatem who discussed the various precautions students can take to stay vigilant amid the covid-19 pandemic. He didn’t have much to say beyond the standard issue “wear face masks” and “maintain social distancing,” but he notably raised the possibility of a second wave rearing its head in November during the onset of flu season, emphasizing the importance that precautionary measures are enforced in all schools (watch, runtime: 9:03).

New commodities exchange: On Monday night, Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal spoke with Ibrahim Ashmawy, the newly-appointed chairman of the forthcoming commodity exchange, who said that the new exchange would contribute to increasing the supply of key goods, thus reducing their prices. Ashmawy added that the first supply outlet has been opened in partnership with the private sector, selling commodities from 30k producers. He noted that the exchange has already held organizational and administrative meetings, but could not confirm when it would go live with trading or which commodities will be made available for trading (watch, runtime: 8:35).