With the various Islamist currents vying for control of the education portfolio in the future government, can the sweeping Islamist majority in Egypt’s Parliament spell major changes in
With the various Islamist currents vying for control of the education portfolio in the future government, can the sweeping Islamist majority in Egypt’s Parliament spell major changes in our education policy?
The sweeping majority gained by the Islamists in Egypt’s new Parliament has had many Egyptians seriously wondering how that may be set to change the quality of life in Egypt. It is not yet clear whether the Islamist majority would bring about Islamic laws, economics, tourism, attire, or—a rather alarming notion for seculars and liberals—religious education.
Education conforming with sharia
The notion of the possible Islamisation of education was spurred by the open race of the Salafis in Parliament to take over the parliamentary Education Committee, the responsibility of which is to draw the national education policy. The Salafis did take over the Education Committee, and among the first declarations made by its head MP Shaaban Abdel-Alim, as told to Watani’s Adel Mounir, was that it was the committee’s concern to ensure that education policies conformed with the sharia of Allah.
Along the same line, and as the majority Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)—the Muslim Brotherhood’s (MB) political arm—was said to be contemplating a coalition government, the various Islamist movements all announced they were primarily interested in the education portfolio.
Predictably, the moves raised concerns among secular educators who viewed them as the beginning of attempts to ‘Saudiise’ Egyptian education. Several movements concerned with education in Egypt stressed that education is a national issue which must never be structured on religious or political bases, neither ought it to be manipulated to serve the interest of any political or religious faction. They asked the MB to revise their ideas and expectations in regard to education based on a religious perspective, and urged the Salafis to correct what they termed “the Wahabi view” on education which, they said, is bound to ruin Egyptian education.
Copying the Saudis
A recent statement issued by the Egyptian Centre for the Right to Education declared that: “Islamists’ ambitions to take over the education portfolio means that the Education Ministry would become a political extension of a religious party or parties, even if it is the majority party. Once the education portfolio is managed along religious lines, the education process will represent a threat to national unity and will lead to further religious discrimination in schools.”
“Those who control education control the thoughts and attitudes of the community as a whole,” remarks Ayman al-Biyali of the Independent Teachers’ Syndicate. “The Islamic current wishes to control the education portfolio and to establish religious schools similar to those in Pakistan, a politically unstable State blighted by civil unrest and where people are taught not to believe in science but to put their faith in religion.
“The Egyptian mind is being targeted,” Mr Biyali says, “through attempts to Saudiise education just as the principles of Islam were Saudiised before.”
For his part, Mohamed Ismail Diab, the coordinator-general of the General Independent Union of Teachers in Egypt, says that fears of Saudiising Egypt are overblown because, even if the Islamists succeed in imposing their views on the educational system, they will not succeed so easily in forcing the family, media and community to endorse them. “The Islamist tides cannot rule over education in Egypt,” Mr Diab says, “as long as there is strong opposition from teachers and parents. Scientific and cultural syllabuses in institutes and universities cannot be transformed into rostrums for mosques or churches. The moderate, tolerant Egyptian character is strong and will not be perverted.”
No fear
An expert at the national centre for educational research, who asked not to be named, told Watani there was no need to fear the announcements by religious parties, since their proposals in the most part cannot be put into operation on the ground. The appointment of ministers, he reminds, is undertaken according to strict conditions. A minister of education does not work alone but together with advisers, and cannot make any unilateral changes to the existing curricula. He or she must be able to take the right, strategic decision and to adhere to existing long-term plans.
As for the ‘Saudiisation’ issue, does it mean that Islamists will replace the scientific curricula with a religious one? Is that what they do in Saudi Arabia? “Definitely not,” the expert says, “Curricula of the sciences and humanities in Saudi Arabia conform with international standards. The only difference comes in the religious curricula.
“We should not be overanxious about pointless issues. Education is complicated. For years we have called for reforms, but reforms need funds.”
As though in confirmation of the expert’s views, the parliamentary education committee some two weeks ago announced it was accepting the sum of USD496.8 million in aid from the United States to upgrade basic education and schools in Egypt, as well as the teaching of English language. Even though several Salafi MPs criticised the move, dubbing it American “cultural invasion” and an attempt to thwart the Arabic language and give precedence to English, Education Minister Gamal al-Arabi absolutely denied such allegations and said it was unreasonable to reject aid under the current dire financial conditions.
No simple restructuring
“Salafi demands to make education conform to Islamic sharia is mere rhetoric,” education expert Kamal Mugheith told Watani. “What has been circulated in the media that they intend to instate an education system for girls different than that for boys, a system that would focus on Arabic language, religion, and home economics, is easier said than done. The Salafis cannot simply re-structure the entire education operation in Egypt to suit their whim. The process involves millions of students, male and female teachers, and schools. The alleged Salafi goal, if indeed true, will be confronted with sizeable resistance from all sides.
“Egypt has provided regular education for girls since the 1940s,” Dr Mugheith says, “it is impossible to go back on that now.”
More serious than such Salafi allegations, Dr Mugheith draws attention to the MB intention of building 100 schools in every governorate. Instating Islamic schools may mark the way towards religious-oriented education which could very well lead away from secular, civil education.
“The problems with our education system,” according to Dr Mugheith, “are too many and too serious to be dealt with by a single party or political current.”
A major pillar
For his part, Azmi Ashour, managing editor of the quarterly al-Demoqratiya published by al-Ahram, insists that winning elections does not give Islamists the right to undermine or bend to their narrow interests the institutions of the modern State. “Every feature of the Islamist discourse,” Mr Ashour wrote in Al-Ahram Weekly, “speaks of an attempt to deviate from the revolution and the secularist forces in society.
“Indeed, the Islamists, as would apply to any other majority bloc in parliament, are duty-bound to safeguard that institutional edifice that has become a social and cultural reality that defines the primary features of the Egyptian State.”
It is self-evident that education is among the major pillars of the features of the State, features that have worked to bring about democracy despite some 60 years of despotic rule. Even though education in Egypt needs major reforms, tampering with the principles of this civil, secular education would spell ruin to future Egyptian minds.
WATANI International
4 March 2012