School teachers must first pass an exam if they want a substantial financial boost. But Reem Leila discovers that not all are happy about being students again The Ministry of Education has started giving its teachers exams to identify who will be included in a new cadre system which it says will increase material and social stability. The tests, to be taken in all public and private schools, consists of the Arabic language, social studies, general knowledge and questions regarding the teacher's subject of specialisation. Each exam consists of 100 multiple choice questions. Primary school teachers were tested on 24 August, while secondary school teachers took the exam on 26-27 August. Teachers in technical schools are to be examined today. The site of the tests were public universities. Teachers had seating numbers they received from their schools. The results of the tests should be out before the new scholastic year begins. "Examinations will test their knowledge on a variety of subjects, and not necessarily related to the discipline they teach," Omar Ibrahim, director of the statistics department at the Ministry of Education, maintained. Judging by the few questions he read, "they will not be difficult for teachers to answer." If a teacher fails the test, he or she can retake it after one year. If they fail a second time, although they can continue teaching, their salaries will not increase. In accordance with the tests, the government will guarantee a basic salary for newly appointed teachers of LE500, to increase throughout the term of employment to LE2,000. Teachers, according to Medhat El-Sayed, deputy to the minister of education, will also be eligible for an increase in the percentage of their incentives in order to help reduce private lessons, which has traditionally placed a financial burden on the Egyptian family. As such, teachers will be given training courses to improve their overall status. The government is to allocate an extra LE1.6 billion to implement the new cadre system expected to go into practice the next scholastic year, El-Sayed stated. But teachers are unhappy with the Ministry of Education's decision to peg their salary increase to standardised tests. In a preliminary exam taken by a randomly chosen group of teachers, more than 90 per cent of them failed "which implies that the government is not serious about increasing their salaries," opposition MP Mustafa Bakri and a member of the People's Assembly Education Committee told Al-Ahram Weekly. Teachers said they believed the very idea of testing them after many years in the profession is disrespectful and offensive. They said some of the questions were irrelevant and expressed concern that students will not respect them if the ministry itself does not. "Some of the teachers who will be tested have been in the profession for over 30 years. They taught the minister of education himself. Why after 30 years of teaching are they being tested now?" asked Wael Ahmed, a primary school teacher. "This is an insult to teachers. Why don't they do this for all professions? Why just teachers?" The government's reply was that, "basic education will be elevated by applying national educational standards and school-focussed comprehensive reform," El-Sayed said. "The minister insists on the exam and there will be no other alternative. This is for the welfare of students and teachers." A statement issued by the Tagammu political party alleged that the decision to link the pay increase promised to teachers with examination results was illegal because it is not provided for in the law governing the pay increase. The Tagammu statement places the decision to link pay increases with testing in the context of an eventual plan to privatise education. Abdel-Nasser Ibrahim, of the Giza Federation of Teachers, agreed with the Tagammu's statement and added, "this is not just about minimum wage; it is about a policy which will eventually end up humiliating teachers and ending their career forever." Teachers believe that the exam is a method by which the Ministry of Education can avoid giving pay increases to all teachers, stating that according to exam regulations, answers are to be written in pencil rather than pen "so that correct answers can be altered and the numbers passing the exam controlled. On what basis are we going to be tested?" school teacher Iman Helmi argued. George Ishaq, of the political Kifaya movement, also criticised the testing scheme. "You cannot test teachers without training," he said. New training centres will be created as part of the plan where teachers will receive training, but they will be tested before being trained. "Egypt is in trouble because its education is in trouble. We call for the resignation of the syndicate's leaders and the creation of a popular syndicate which will defend teachers' rights rather than adopting government causes," Ishaq said. Teachers demanded that training and experience be linked to promotion rather than being linked to pay, and called for the abandonment of the academies scheme, demanding that training centres be improved. According to Reda Abu Serea deputy to the minister of education, the exams on which the teachers' salary scale will be identified do not imply merely an increase in teachers' salaries, but are in recognition of the significant role they play and the societal responsibility they shoulder. Abu Serea said this new salary scale stresses the relationship between the financial benefits it involves and the cognitive and professional standards needed to promote the quality of performance of teachers in shouldering that role and responsibility. "The cadre is to establish the principle of reward and punishment, to raise salaries of teachers; benefiting about one million teachers against financial costs of about LE4 billion." Administrative employees and other non-teaching staff such as school headmasters and their deputies in addition to other employees are disappointed by the new cadre system because the Ministry of Education will not grant them the increased basic wage awarded to teaching staff. Fawzi Abdel-Fattah, a school deputy headmaster and head of the Committee for the Defence of the Rights of Administrative Staff and Workers in the Ministry of Education, said that the ministry's decision was unfair. "It isn't just teachers who prop up the education system. There are huge numbers of administrative staff who play a vital role," Abdel-Fattah said. "We were told that our wages would be increased under the civil service law issued in 2007," Abdel Fattah said. "They initially promised us a 50 per cent increase over three years," adding, "this promise was subsequently retracted because the finance minister claimed we receive more than our due in the form of examinations bonuses," which, he said, amounts to more than the 50 per cent promised increase. "It is incorrect to call this payment a bonus. Administrative employees who are absent from work due to sickness do not receive it. It is therefore more accurate to describe it as a payment given in return for duties performed," Abdel-Fattah added. "Nobody will give us anything unless we voice our legitimate demands for our rights. After 36 years in this profession I earn LE600 per month. Some administrative employees earn only LE150 per month and take bribes just to survive," Abdel-Fattah added. "The new system has been created to increase the availability and to promote the quality of basic education and school teachers' quality," Abu Serea explained, adding that the Ministry of Education will establish more teachers' training centres after passing their exams and upgrade the educational services they offer. It is a parallel interest in developing clear performance criteria on established rules for continuing training and education programmes, capacity development and similar rules for issuing professional practice licences. The cadre system in schools follows on the heels of a recent government initiative in universities whereby professors will volunteer for a scheme of pay increases linked to performance.
