The 10-year-old Mariam Andrawus Eweida has become the youngest Coptic activist. On her Facebook page she has launched a campaign to claim the right that 8 January, the day following Coptic Christmas, should be free of examinations, in order for Coptic pupils to be able to enjoy their Christmas Day. Since the first week in January is usually the time for exams for the first school term to be held, and since the former president Mubarak had decreed in 2003 that Coptic Christmas should be a national holiday, education ministers had insisted that no exams should be held on 8 January.
The 10-year-old Mariam Andrawus Eweida has become the youngest Coptic activist. On her Facebook page she has launched a campaign to claim the right that 8 January, the day following Coptic Christmas, should be free of examinations, in order for Coptic pupils to be able to enjoy their Christmas Day. Since the first week in January is usually the time for exams for the first school term to be held, and since the former president Mubarak had decreed in 2003 that Coptic Christmas should be a national holiday, education ministers had insisted that no exams should be held on 8 January.
Andrawus demanded meet the current Education Minister Gamal al-Arabi to make her point, and expects a time for the meeting to be set this week. Last Wednesday, however, Dr Arabi announced his decision that no exams should be held on 8 January, in response to Coptic demands.
Rights groups and activists, who had supported strongly Mariam’s call for an examination-free day on 8 January on grounds that holding exams then would be an encroachment on the citizenship and human rights of Copts, applauded Dr Arabi’s decision.
Comments
comments