Education Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif has turned down international school owners’ request to keep Arabic and history out of students’ final scores. Every Egyptian student at an international school will study history, Arabic, and religion, he said at the Egypt Forum on 19 October, calling the matter settled.

School owners say the change adds to students’ load. Nader Younan, chairman of the Foundation of International Schools in Egypt (FISE), made the request at the forum. Schools have no problem teaching the subjects and have taught them for years, Younan said, but international certificates already carry more subjects than the Egyptian baccalaureate. He also asked the minister to revisit the cap on annual fee increases, currently 7%.

Abdel Latif says students have had four years’ notice. The decision applies to Egyptian students who earned their preparatory certificate in 2024/25 once they reach Grade 12. Arabic and history will each count for 10% of the international certificate equivalency score, with the remaining 80% coming from the certificate’s own subjects, including GPA, a government official tells us. Students pay less attention to subjects that don’t count toward their totals, Abdel Latif said.

What schools must teach: The ministry’s 2024 decision requires international schools to teach Arabic from kindergarten through Grade 12 and religion from Grade 1, as we reported at the time. Social studies runs from Grades 4 to 9, and history replaces it in Grades 10 to 12. The rules apply to kindergarten through Grade 9 since 2024/25 and to students entering Grade 10 as of 2025/26.

Schools have already reworked their timetables, parents say. Before the rules took effect, international schools had more say over how much time they gave to national identity subjects (Arabic, religion, and history or social studies), and some taught elementary students Arabic as little as once a week, sources tell us. Parents at the American International School (AIS) and Hayah International Academy say Arabic classes and schoolwork have since increased. One AIS parent says Grade 6 Arabic rose from two periods a week to six. A Hayah parent describes more reading, memorization, and assessments on top of international coursework. Younger students still learning to read and write Arabic are finding the jump to written work and history harder, some parents say.

The ministry doesn’t yet know how many students need help. International schools held Arabic placement tests on 15 September, but the ministry has set no deadline for the results and is still waiting on them, the official says. Six American and British schools taught their students no Arabic in recent years, and the ministry will address those cases starting in the early grades, the official adds. Its remedial reading and writing programs have reached about 1.83 mn public school students and reduced the number who struggle, according to the official. The ministry is considering bringing them to international schools where results show a need, sending in government teachers if necessary.

For IGCSE students, the classes have already started. The ministry required schools to start compulsory Arabic and history classes on 11 October for International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) students, running through the November exam session, with history at 10am and Arabic at noon, swapping order each week, the official says. After the November exams, students move into regular classes and attendance schedules.

Coursework determines who can sit the ministry exams. It “does not count directly toward the 20%,” the official tells us, which comes entirely from the ministry’s final exam results. To qualify, students must attend regularly and earn at least 60% of their coursework marks, which cover projects, homework and classwork, attendance and behavior, weekly assessments, and two monthly assessments. The ministry sets the exams, held in May at no charge and again in July for a fee, with the higher result counting. Students can retake the exam for up to four academic years.

The ministry is pressing ahead despite court rulings against the rollout. The Administrative Court has ruled against the weighting on a case-by-case basis, but those rulings are suspended while the ministry appeals them, according to the official. No date has been set for the appeals. The rules cover American Diploma, IGCSE, and International Baccalaureate (IB) students, with no full or partial exemptions, the official says.

Parents have also taken their case to Parliament. MP Wafaa El Sarrangawi has filed a request for a briefing asking the government to cancel the 20% weighting, she tells us, after receiving complaints from thousands of parents of IGCSE, American Diploma, and IB students in Egypt and abroad. Applying the rule to students who started school under admission rules set by the Supreme Council of Universities changes the terms of university competition after their schooling began, according to the request, which we reviewed.

Unequal footing tops the MP’s list of complaints. British certificate students now take 10 subjects on the literary track and 12 on the science track, against five for Thanaweya Amma and six for the Egyptian baccalaureate, El Sarrangawi says. Students who miss the cutoff for public or national universities could turn to private ones, adding costs for middle-income families, she warns. She wants the minister to clarify the timeline and curriculum, saying no clear syllabus or exam specifications exist. She proposes either making the two subjects pass-or-fail or letting students pass them in their first university years.

The ministry has warned 35 schools so far. Those schools have since started scheduling Arabic and history classes, ending unlicensed homeschooling arrangements and holding in-person assessments, the official says. Schools that enroll students who don’t attend or keep inaccurate attendance records risk losing their license. The ministry hasn’t said how many schools it has inspected or penalized. The rules on national identity subjects are not up for discussion, the official adds.

Tags: