The 10-year-old Mariam Andrawus Eweida, the youngest Coptic activist who had launched a Facebook campaign to claim the right that 8 January, the day following Coptic Christmas, should be free of examinations, met the Education Minister Gamal al-Arabi two days before Christmas.
The 10-year-old Mariam Andrawus Eweida, the youngest Coptic activist who had launched a Facebook campaign to claim the right that 8 January, the day following Coptic Christmas, should be free of examinations, met the Education Minister Gamal al-Arabi two days before Christmas.
Dr Arabi had responded to Mariam’s demand, which was echoed by several rights groups, and declared that no exams should be held on 8 January.
Mariam expressed her thanks to Dr Arabi with a bouquet of roses. She told the minister she wished that the curriculum may include something to educate Muslim students about Christianity, since the majority know very little about its principles or even about Christmas. “Christian students, on the other hand,” she said, “have a very good idea about Islam because the curriculum contains a generous portion of information on that religion.”
“Islam,” Dr Arabi replied, “already respects Christianity; the Qur’anic verse declares that Christians are ‘the closest in sympathy to Muslims’.”