Rejecting the Resumption of Studies at the Peak of the Pandemic

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

In conjunction with the increase in COVID-19 cases and exceeding 27,000 confirmed cases, the Minister of Education, Tarek Shawky, confirmed that the secondary school exams would be conducted without delay at the end of this month. This decision exposes more than 650,000 students and approximately 700,000 students in technical diploma exams to the risk of infection and virus transmission to their families.

High school students have called for postponing the exams until the end of the peak of the pandemic and delaying the first university semester or replacing it with an aptitude test before university admission.

International and foreign certificate students have expressed their refusal to attend the secondary school exams because they do not affect their university admission or coordination. They consider that attending the exams exposes them to the risk of infection without any benefit.

A teacher explained that the risk of infection would not be limited to students; the danger is doubled for exam invigilators. Some teachers feared the virus being transmitted to marking centers through answer sheets.

On the other hand, Al-Azhar secondary school students expressed the same concerns after the Head of the Al-Azhar Institutes Sector confirmed that their exams would not be postponed. University students in their final years have also refused to take exams via social media. The Nile University Student Union issued a statement demanding the cancellation of the decision issued on May 17, 2020, requiring final-year students to take written exams inside the university. They suggested replacing them with online exams or evaluating students through research projects. In a statement issued last week, the Engineering Faculty Student Union at Cairo University proposed some ideas for remote exams.

High school and final-year university students call for their grades to be evaluated remotely or for end-of-year exams to be postponed, similar to what has been done with transfer and foreign certificate students. The scientific importance of the third year of high school and the final semester is equivalent to that of any other academic year and transfer year.

The probability of infection increases due to the large number of students in contact with confirmed cases from their families and others as we have reached the peak of community spread. Many students are in governorates outside the areas or governorates where their exams will be held, and traveling poses a severe risk to their health, increasing their chances of exposure to infection.

We demand that the requests of high school students, foreign certificate students, and university student unions be met, granting them the right to be partners in decision-making and protecting millions of students and their families from infection.