Your top education stories of the week
Your top education stories of the week:
- School committees to enforce precautionary measures: Schools across the country will have new committees to ensure social distancing and other precautionary measures are implemented once classes are back in session, Education Minister Tarek Shawki said at a presser on Thursday.
- School covid guidelines released: The Education Ministry’s guidelines for reopening schools will see blended learning for K-9 and high school fully online but precise schedules ultimately remain up to individual school administrators.
- Thanaweya Amma is changing: The standardized Thanaweya Amma exam will be amended and electronically administered this year with a shift away from a test focused on memorization to one that places more emphasis on comprehension.
- Mandarin lessons are coming to Egyptian high schools: The Education Ministry and China’s Confucius Institute have signed an MoU to teach Mandarin as a second language in Egyptian high schools, a ministry statement said on Monday. Confucius Institute programs have proven controversial in Canada, where at least three education systems (in Toronto, Manitoba and New Brunswick) are scrapping agreements that deliver (or would have delivered) a Chinese culture and language program in schools amid complaints the programs — funded by the Chinese government — were delivering pro-Beijing messages or stifling discussion of “off-limits” topics.
- CIRA kicks off Badr Uni construction: CIRA began construction work for the first phase of its flagship Badr University in Assiut on Thursday.
- Cabinet green-lights new unis: Two non-profit universities — one in Al Saleheya Al Gadida and another in Sharm El Sheikh — as well as a medical research institute in Assiut, and two new faculties in Fayoum and New Valley universities received cabinet approval earlier this week.