Head of the General Education Sector at the Education Ministry Reda Mossad told Al-Masry Al-Youm Thursday that the secondary school draft law is almost complete and will be submitted to the cabinet for discussion.
Secondary school consists of three years, and a student’s grade point average from the last two years combined is used to determine the colleges for which he or she is eligible. Under the new law, only the GPA of the final year will be considered, Mossad said.
The draft law says that students should pass three exams, the first will be on the school level, the second on the national level and the final is an aptitude test by college that the student wants to attend. The college will prepare the exam for students, he said.
The ministry said students must have attendance rates of 75 percent in order to be eligible for testing.
Students can choose from one of four different tests, depending on what they want to major in at university: Medical Science, which is essential for enrolling in faculties of medicine, science, and pharmacy; Engineering to join the faculties of engineering and departments of architecture and computer science; Arts to join the faculty of arts; and Law and Business Management to enroll in the faculties of law and commerce, said Mossad.
Mossad stressed that students can enroll in university within five years of obtaining a secondary school certificate, pointing out that changing the high school system requires modifying the curricula. Mossad said the ministry is currently developing new strategies for curricula as well as amendments for other education laws, including Act 139 of 1981 and Law 155 of 2007.
