By Salma Khattab
Many of us have witnessed the discouraging and agonizing Thanaweya Amma days that stirred fear and doubt of not being accepted into the university of our dreams. BUT, believe it or not, you can now say goodbye to this Egyptian nightmare as it is coming to an end.
The Thanaweya Amma is a series of examinations Egyptians take at the end of their secondary school education to graduate. It’s required as a prerequisite for applying to higher education and universities. The grades of the final year’s subjects are combined, and the final percentage is the total of your grade.
The higher the percentage, the more options of universities and degree programs are open to the student. It is a major cause of fear and anxiety among Egyptian high school students. Parents also suffer with the difficulties and tensions of helping their children achieve high scores by spending large amounts of money on private tutoring.
A Thanaweya Amma student, Ahmed Ashraf, said to Daily News Egypt that he continuously suffers from anxiety and fear. Adding that he wishes to be done with the “nightmare” of Thanaweya Amma and enroll in the program he dreams of. Not surprisingly, Ashraf is not alone and there are many others who have the same feeling.
The happy news is that the Ministry of Education has announced the end of the long-applied Thanaweya Amma exams and the establishment of a new program that does away with the percentage system and switches to a grade point average (GPA). So, the new system will grade the students based on their final three years of study in secondary school.
The exams will be initially based on multiple-choice questions, short and long-term answers, projects, and verbal fluency. This is mainly thanks to the use of technological advances through providing tablets to students and teachers. So, their information will come from the Egyptian Knowledge Bank database that will provide sources and references, rather than relying only on school books. The ministry believes that this system will improve students’ creativity and help them to become more efficient at learning.
Also, the minister revealed that there will be sanctions imposed on those who give private sessions to students without taking prior consent from the ministry. Also, a program has been developed to train the school teachers on using the new technological techniques in their instruction.
This plan is a good way to encourage critical thinking among students. Now, Egyptian students have more space to be creative and will be better prepared for the job market.