Egypt needs to recruit 30,000 new teachers, says El-Sisi

[DJKeefy]

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has said Egypt needs to recruit 30,000 new teachers.

In a speech on Teachers' Day, El-Sisi said 1,150 schools would be built in a year, adding that Egypt needs 10,000 new schools nationwide.

He said new "quality" teachers are needed. But added that LE18 billion would have to be found to increase raise teachers' salaries by LE1,000 per month.

He made it clear, however, that this money would not be available soon and urged teachers to "stand by Egypt" first.

Egypt has long suffered from a deteriorating education system, which has been mostly blamed on insufficient government investment.

Schools suffer from a lack of facilities and a poor curriculum, while teachers complain of insufficient salaries.

Egypt was ranked last out of 148 countries surveyed in the 2012-2013 Global Competitiveness Report, published by the World Economic Forum, for the quality of its primary education.

In August, Education Minister Mahmoud Abou Nasr said his ministry has a long-term plan to improve education in Egypt, which would commence its preliminary stage from 2014 to 2017 and would last until 2030.

The plan includes the introduction of a nutrition programme in all public schools, eliminating illiteracy, and reducing the number of students dropping out of school.

Meanwhile, public spending on education in the 2014/15 budget will be LE94.4 billion, compared to LE83.5 billion the previous year, according to the finance ministry website.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/110212.aspx

[A-Four]

Yet another joke from El Ahram,,......teachers on 1,000LE a month in Luxor. New qualified teachers have toy do a year without pay, then they are dismissed, a new qualified teacher appointed the following year, etc,etc,......................reminds me of YTS scheme brought in by the Thatchergovernment in Britain.

[DJKeefy]

Yet another joke from El Ahram,,......teachers on 1,000LE a month in Luxor. New qualified teachers have toy do a year without pay, then they are dismissed, a new qualified teacher appointed the following year, etc,etc,......................reminds me of YTS scheme brought in by the Thatchergovernment in Britain.

Why a joke from El Ahram A-Four, I've seen the same figures in other online newspapers, did you mean another joke from the government?

[carrie]

Newly qualified teachers are regarded as contract teachers and are paid a salary although admittedly very low, Mubarak introduced a new scheme whereby ALL teachers had to undertake further training and pass a further qualification called the Professional Acadamy of Teachers, those that didn't pass went for even further training and if after that those that still didn't pass where to be found alternative employment, perhaps in the office of the education department, if they were classed as "employees", the contract teachers could just be dismissed. I think this scheme which was meant to improve the standard of teaching has been scrapped due to all the upheavals.
One of the problems is that teachers don't have much incentive to teach the kids at school when they can earn much more money by teaching those same kids in private lessons in the evening.

[A-Four]

Yet another joke from El Ahram,,......teachers on 1,000LE a month in Luxor. New qualified teachers have toy do a year without pay, then they are dismissed, a new qualified teacher appointed the following year, etc,etc,......................reminds me of YTS scheme brought in by the Thatchergovernment in Britain.

Why a joke from El Ahram A-Four, I've seen the same figures in other online newspapers, did you mean another joke from the government?

I, like many people away from Luxor and Egypt are thankful to you Keefy, for bringing the info from the local media, but then, in the old Mubarak days, was highly censored. Like you say here Keefy do I mean the government or the media, well truly there is NO true independent media, and there is NO true government. The nation is in what we would call administration.

As a resident in Egypt I would believe nothing in the Egyptian press. I remember years ago as a guest at the Indian Embassy in Zamalek, where El Ahram's, Zeeta Greeta's column on the back page of El Ahram weekly had a photo of me, and stated that I was the then out going British ambassador,. I've often wondered if I told her that when I was ******.

[A-Four]

Newly qualified teachers are regarded as contract teachers and are paid a salary although admittedly very low, Mubarak introduced a new scheme whereby ALL teachers had to undertake further training and pass a further qualification called the Professional Acadamy of Teachers, those that didn't pass went for even further training and if after that those that still didn't pass where to be found alternative employment, perhaps in the office of the education department, if they were classed as "employees", the contract teachers could just be dismissed. I think this scheme which was meant to improve the standard of teaching has been scrapped due to all the upheavals.
One of the problems is that teachers don't have much incentive to teach the kids at school when they can earn much more money by teaching those same kids in private lessons in the evening.

I am sorry Carrie, but yes you do know a lot about your home and general life in Luxor, and yes even Egypt to a certain extent, but what I want you to understand is that many families put their daughters through very expensive college or university for three years, then to qualify for a REAL job. Away from Luxor few teachers can find private work.

Remember also, the true reason for the so called revolution, was more to do with young people who had qualified years earlier, who still had not got work for which they had studied for so long and at great expense to themselves AND their families. I saw this with my own eyes, and could see that change was coming,.............and that is why I got out of Egypt, and if you do not believe me, read my notes on here at that time.

[Glyphdoctor]

This is not clear, can you please elaborate

many families put their daughters through very expensive college or university for three years, then to qualify for a REAL job.

[Dusak]

I have to agree with A-four on this one. My friend and her friends that can see the future of their kids more clearly than just finishing school and survive best they can, consider the first years of schooling here up to the age of sixteen as just the rudimentary beginnings of awareness to what education can offer. They rely heavily, those that can afford them, private lessons after school and at term breaks. The real education begins at collage for the lucky ones that can afford it. There are many young females that are quite content to wast their younger years behind a shop counter until they marry, but their are many thousands that want the chance of a better life.

Locally there is much criticism towards the education system here, one school heavily subscribed having a better standard than X,Y or Z. Her sister lives on the WB, and one other reason for farming of her girls to the EB is that it is apparently common knowledge that the schools on the WB are just basically rooms to shut kids in for several hours a day. Poor standard of teaching, poor time keeping by most teachers and very run down facilities and buildings.

The only problem with gaining higher education here, is that at the end of it all, there are no, or very few, jobs available to fit their new found qualifications. So, they end up working behind a shop counter.