The center's experts determine the possibility of adding essay questions in the exams of a number of subjects, such as Arabic, English and other first and second foreign languages, and how to correct these types of questions in a way that ensures non-human intervention and achieves equal opportunities for all students applying for exams. The decision is announced The final form and content of the exam paper in the first week of the second semester immediately after the end of the mid-year vacation.
Until now, no amendments have been made to the specifications of the exam paper for high school, and therefore there will be no new surprises in the form of the exam in each subject and the distribution of questions on the courses of each subject according to the relative weight of each lesson.
As Al-Jumhuriya Online learned, the final decision has not yet been taken with regard to holding the general secondary exams in a fully electronic form, and that the questions and answers be using the school tablet and the correction is completely electronic, or repeating what happened last year by holding the exams using the Babel Sheet system Correction is also electronic without human intervention.
The Ministry of Education asked the educational directorates at the level of the Republic to prepare a detailed report on the capabilities available in all its affiliated schools and to determine the efficiency of connections, devices and Internet networks, and to complete the missing capabilities so far, provided that the report is sent to the Ministry at the latest on January 15th, in preparation for decision-making. The final exam regarding the electronic exam or the Babylon sheet.
Progress forms
High school students begin to fill out electronic forms to apply for this year’s exams immediately after the end of the mid-year vacation, by entering the Ministry’s website designated for this purpose using the student’s code number. .
The General Administration of Information Systems and Decision Support at the Ministry of Education directed principals of public secondary schools to provide guidance and technical support to students to register the electronic form correctly.
The Ministry stipulated that the application form for the high school exams be allowed to be issued by the student paying the tuition fees. The steps for writing the high school forms are for the student to fill out the form under the supervision of Student Affairs and the educational counselor in the school according to his data recorded in the national number certificate, accompanied by a birth certificate and a photocopy of the identity card. The student's national number. Schools approve the forms and lists of 150 "D" exams printed through the Ministry's website after reviewing them. They are then submitted to the system and monitoring committees.
When editing the form, the student's name is written in four quadrants from the birth certificate, without abbreviation, without adding any surname, industry, or job before the father's name, such as Hajj. Sheikh, professor or priest, unless this is mentioned in the birth certificate.
The student specifies the first and second foreign language in the form in which he wishes to take the exam. If the student is exempted from the second foreign language, a copy of the exemption request shall be attached to the application form, indicating the division in which the examination is performed to determine the specialized subjects.
Students of language schools register in the application form the subjects in which they will take the exam in the first foreign language. The student has the right to choose whether the answer should be in Arabic or a foreign language.
Facing fraud
With regard to confronting cheating, in order to eliminate the concerns of parents in order to maintain equal opportunities for all students this year, stress will be placed on the need for the student and his guardian to write a declaration of knowledge of the content of Ministerial Resolution No. A student in all subjects and considered to have failed in them if he photographed, printed, published, broadcasted or promoted by any means the examination questions or their answers before or during the examination committees, whether this act took place inside or outside the committees with the intention of cheating or violating the general order of the exam or initiated or committed any of these Deeds..or attempted verbal or deed assault on one of those in charge of the examination process, their assistants, or the students, or incited them to do so during or after the examination.
Parents and teachers demand to avoid "essay" questions, and Abu Amira replies: It is necessary and corrected in a better independent paper
Despite Dr. Tariq Shawky, Minister of Education and Technical Education, repeatedly confirming that all the details of the general secondary exams It will be announced in the first weeks of the second term. His assurances did not calm down neither the students nor their parents.
Their questions are still being asked on social media pages and websites, whether on Facebook, Twitter, or WhatsApp and Telegram groups.
Everyone is in a hurry and wants to know from now on what the exams will look like and the mechanism for holding them.. Although the minister himself repeated that the exams will be completely electronic, doubts about this matter have increased very much, especially after it was decided to introduce essay questions into the exams of the first and second secondary grades year!!
Al-Jumhuriya Online put the matter up for discussion and solicited the views of all parties. We asked them: Do you prefer that the exams be fully electronic, such as the first and second secondary exams, or Babel Sheet, as happened last year?
Do you accept that essay questions be added to some of the subjects.. and “not free of them”?!
Dr. Muhammad Anwar, a “guardian,” said, “In my opinion, the exam should be electronic and away from any essay questions in order to avoid any human error, and there would be an announced alternative for the student in the event of a breakdown or failure to open his exam, and that is before the exam in a sufficient period.
As for Aida El-Rouby, a "teacher", she believes that it is certain that the Ministry has a clear vision from last year through the public opinion of teachers, students and parents, whether before, during or after the secondary exams, in which the pros and cons of the bubble sheet appeared.
She added: From my point of view, I see that as long as the student gets used to the electronic test in the first and second, it must be the same in the third, i.e. electronic, and there is no need for a Babylon sheet.
She explained that the problem is that there are some groups, such as homes, who always take paper exams.. For these people, a solution must be sought.
As for Ahmed Mahmoud Othman, a "guardian", he said: I hope that the exam will be electronic, away from the "Babylon Sheet" because it is easy to hack and cheat, despite the signing of an acknowledgment by the student and the guardian not to possess a mobile phone, but we do not deny that many students are The mobile phone is hidden in different ways. A student who is able to unlock a phone, even for three minutes, can change the cable and solve the exam, and this harms the interest of the outstanding student.
Amal al-Najjar, a guardian, said: I think we are in the fourth year of experience, and there is a class in which I will try for three full years, and I graduated last year. However, the Ministry is not fully prepared for electronic exams on the tablet.
She added: Let us follow the mid-year exams for the first and second year of secondary school, and see how they will test this term, and then decide.
She added: I think if there was a failure in the exam and the same problems occurred in the previous years, then it would be over and it would not be useful at all for a third electronic exam in any way.
Ibrahim Ali, a teacher, said: The disadvantages of the tablet are many, such as weak networks and system failures. The lack of students’ answers, the exam opens with students and not students, and the chaos inside the committees due to the problems with the tablet, and this affects the students’ concentration during the exam, and many other things.
He added: The bubble sheet also has disadvantages, such as the difficulty of shading, and this messed up many students and was the reason for losing many of their grades. Therefore, it is better for a fateful year like a third secondary school exam to be held without essay questions.
Rabab Hassan, a guardian, wished that there would be an exam or two that were experimental and far from essay questions, because students are not used to them.
She said: The exam must be either electronic or a Babylon sheet, provided that the problem of leaks is addressed and that fraud groups are seriously confronted. The state must stop this farce that took place last year, and I hope everything remains clear from now on and we are not surprised by decisions a week before the exam. No for essay questions.
Hazem Maarouf said: Students and teachers are supposed to "know" the exam system from the beginning of the year and not a week before the exams. He excelled in cheating the answers.. The exams were a scene of cheating.. It is not easy to cheat. Choose questions because they are very easy to cheat.
He explained that the existence of essay questions is very important, so that half of the questions are compulsory, choose half of the questions, and so we reduce the percentage of cheating.. and the correction is as normal as in the past, asking: What is the problem with the paper, the teachers used to correct it and it is retracted once or twice, and so on.. but what happens is not possible.
He presented another proposal, but the law needs to be amended by making different exams with the same level of difficulty, and for example, a large number of forms. I mean, for example, if the committee consists of 14 students, it may have 14 forms or 7 forms.. Choose questions only, and thus there will be a very great difficulty in the questions You go abroad on social media because you are talking about a large number of forms.. Each exam student is different from the other, and the correction is done electronically.. Thus, each student will get exactly his right.
Wisam Kamel, a "guardian," said that the problem is that if the exam was electronic, he would not be allowed to enter the textbook, and the student would be forced to divide the screen into the exam part and the part of the book loaded on the tablet. The problem here is that you leave the exam and cannot enter again because the system breaks. And where and where, in order to know how to enter again, part of the time will be wasted. Either the student is allowed to enter with the printed book and the exam is electronic, or it is a booklet and the textbook is allowed to enter because of the permitted rules and notes.
Wisam Kamel, a "guardian," said that the problem is that if the exam was electronic, he would not be allowed to enter the textbook, and the student would be forced to divide the screen into the exam part and the part of the book loaded on the tablet. The problem here is that you leave the exam and cannot enter again because the system breaks. And where and where, in order to know how to enter again, part of the time will be wasted. Either the student is allowed to enter with the printed book and the exam is electronic, or it is a booklet and the textbook is allowed to enter because of the permitted rules and notes.
Marwa Morgan, a "guardian", demanded that the exam be on paper using the Babel Sheet system, because until now we are not sure whether the networks are working properly in all governorates or not.
As for the nature of the questions, I wish there were no essays because we are not trained in it. We have been working for 4 or 5 months in this way. Only optional questions, and changing the pattern of questions, I hope it will be from next year.
And the last thing that exists is that the screen splitting fails, and we relied on the book on the tablet, so it remains a waste of time. In addition, this is completely unfair to the students of the Talat Shaab, due to the presence of very many laws that exist, and in addition to the very many needs of literary students, it is also difficult to memorize them. .
As for Dr. Mohabbat Abu Amira, a professor of curricula and educational sciences, she confirms that with regard to essay questions, it is educationally confirmed that the student must express his opinion through the essay, and this requires adding a piece of paper with the tablet so that the student can express his opinion on the topics of expression, for example a question that talks about the state’s achievements The Egyptians in the slum file or the Asmarat neighborhood will need to write on paper, as well as there are mathematical issues in which the student needs paper and pen, and there are proofs of engineering theories that paper and pen are necessary. Therefore, electronic exams are required, with the addition of paper exams according to the nature of the curriculum.
And about correcting the essay questions with the electronic exam, she confirmed that it can be done in a separate paper in which the question and answer are in the same paper.
Confrontation between the Minister of Education and Parliamentarians Tariq Shawky: The government and the parliament are one front for the development of education Jabali: Referring the minister's statement to the specialized specific committee
The parliamentarians' session witnessed yesterday to discuss a number of briefing requests Questions and general discussion are directed to the Minister of Education and Technical Education, a heated confrontation between the minister and the representatives of Parliament.
The Minister of Education and Technical Education, Dr. Tariq Shawky, affirmed that the door is open to all members of the Council to contribute to the development of the education process at all stages.
The minister said that the process of developing education is not the responsibility of the Ministry of Education alone, but rather all participants in this national mission, explaining that the door is open to all experts and specialists to contribute to serving the development of education as a national goal.
He added that the government and the House of Representatives are on one front in order to develop education, stressing that the goal is to reach an education worthy of the history of Egypt and keep pace with the technology in the world.
And he continued, "I have not worked before in politics and talked technically with you, and what we can solve and do what we need in terms of aid to implement it."
Dr. Tariq Shawqi said that the problem of appointing 36,120 thousand teachers is a national issue that receives the government's attention, but there is a misunderstanding regarding this issue.
He pointed out that if the deputies want to confirm these teachers, they must change the current law, especially since the current law does not provide for appointment or confirmation, calling on the deputies to introduce amendments to the law that allow the appointment of teachers and doctors.
He refused to put pressure on the ministry through this crisis because the 36,000 teachers do not have the right to put pressure on the government.. He said: "They do not have a legal position, and we need only the most qualified of them. of them only."
As for the problem of educational buildings, the minister said: "It is a complex problem because money can exist without land to build new classrooms and schools. We have been talking about a chronic problem for 25 years, and the most dangerous is the population increase that we are going through."
Concerning the fourth grade curriculum crisis, Shawky said: The ministry conducted a test for the fourth grade curriculum by entering a competition with the Japanese side at the same ages as the fourth grade students. Japanese in education Egyptian students succeeded in overcoming the Japanese.
He noted that the philosophy of the curricula followed by the Ministry, especially science and mathematics, is universal, but it is longer than the Egyptian academic year. day, and in other countries it is 180 days or more, and the number of learning days alone creates an educational gap.
At the end of the discussions, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Counselor Dr. Hanafi Jabali, referred the statement of the Minister of Education and Technical Education, Dr. Tariq Shawky, and all the oversight tools that were discussed in the plenary session, to the Parliament's Education and Scientific Research Committee.
The Speaker of the Council said that any of the deputies who wish to continue talking about the oversight tool that he presented should attend the committee's meetings and comment on Minister Shawky's statement.
The Speaker of the Council stressed that the government and the Council are working for the global interest, pointing out that the deputies are representatives of the people and want to achieve the public interest.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Counselor Dr. Hanafi Jabali, had set a number of rules for the members at the beginning of the plenary session regarding discussing the oversight tools directed to the Minister of Education in accordance with the internal regulations of the House.
The speaker of the council said at the beginning of the plenary session that the discussion will take place in accordance with the internal regulations of the council, provided that the duration of the speech addressed to the minister is two minutes, and the loudspeaker will be closed after the end of the period.
He added that it would not be allowed to deviate from the subject of the specific oversight tool, and the loudspeaker would be closed if that happened, explaining that the deputies would speak first, and then the minister's response to those tools would be heard.
The head of the council pointed out that the Minister of Education will respond in a group manner, and no discussion with the minister will be allowed or interrupted, indicating that the deputy will be called upon and will not be called again.
The Speaker of Parliament, Counselor Dr. Hanafi Jabali, forced the government to apologize to Parliament as a whole due to the slip of the tongue of the Minister of Education, Dr. Tariq Shawky, when he described what some deputies said of Ali's expressions that he was not ready to enter this game, a word that provoked the Speaker of Parliament and the deputies.
The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Fouad Allam, on behalf of the government, presented the government's apology to Parliament to erase Tariq Shawky's mistake, who did not respond with an apology, contenting himself with what he said.
The questions and requests for the deputies' briefing focused on the overcrowding of classes, as there are classes in some places where the density has reached 90 students, as well as the difficulty of the fourth grade curriculum.
The deputies also talked about the severe shortage in the number of teachers, the failure to appoint and install 36,000 teachers working on temporary contracts in the ministry, as well as the method of accepting volunteers to work as teachers in the ministry for only 20 pounds per class.
The deputies also discussed increasing tuition fees for all years, which exceeded the financial capabilities of middle-income families.