Al-Sisi undermines the legacy of Abdel Nasser

Cairo | Although the movement to privatize education in Egypt dates back to the end of the era of the late President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, when special regulations for additional spending were introduced at the university levels, the Abdel Fattah al-Sisi regime has achieved for the past six years what no president has accomplished by phasing out free education. Even for prominent high school graduates wishing to enroll in universities, in addition to the fact that a large class of prominent and distinguished departments in the schools of medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry have become departments costing more than six thousand dollars within public universities.

In an article by Abdel Nasser’s secretary Sami Sharaf, which was published recently in the Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, he talks about “the danger of putting a price on education and making it free, as Abdel Nasser decided after the revolution. 1952, be free of name as it was at the end of the monarchy. ” According to informed sources, this transfer process is proceeding according to a methodology approved by the State, especially with the latter’s contempt for improving the quality of subsidized public education, in exchange for expanding support for private and international education. In addition, several new educational programs have been introduced, starting with Japanese schools that were opened in partnership with Tokyo and with government support, so that their annual expenses exceed $ 600, which is a huge amount compared to income of Egyptian families, through private universities they have expanded and the number of their colleges has expanded to accommodate a greater number. From high school students, to the establishment of private universities, who will start studying in the new academic year.
Al-Sisi chose to expand paid university education, as a first stage in the policy of gradually abandoning the role of the state in supporting study at the university levels. It is true that the slogan of private universities revolves around being non-profit, and works to improve the quality of education through association programs that conclude with international universities to obtain double certificates for graduates in the programs they offer, but the paradox is their expenses, which range from four thousand to seven thousand dollars. It is about the tuition for one year without residence in the university or any other expense, taking into account that most of these universities are located in desert areas, and the student is supposed to reside near them at a cost that will approach at the cost of the studio itself, especially with the provision of a hotel residence level. Thus, the expenses of private universities, which were approved by the Rector as a system of distinguished education and as an alternative to public universities in the future, exceeded the expenses of private universities in which average families tried to enroll their children. in case they could not enter public universities because of the difference in the total.

In contrast to the abandonment of public universities, the expansion of private universities continues

Ironically, too, Sisi sought to implement cooperation protocols with international universities through private universities, as this is primarily an investment project and not to improve the quality of education as promoted by the official level. The main objective of this project is to attract more than 20 thousand who study abroad at a cost of around $ 600 million, a figure that the president wishes to pay within the country and not outside it. Likewise, Sisi wants to attract large groups of Egyptian and even Arab expats to study at these universities, where they are given facilities that make fees much lower than elsewhere, and they obtain equivalent certificates from foreign universities. This is what has started to be marketed largely through the Ministry of Higher Education or even the Ministry of Immigration, which is working to attract the children of those residing abroad to study within “eligibility”, which It will provide a distance study with great names in the teaching world, each one in their specialty. It is worth mentioning here that higher-income families wanted to enroll their children in new universities, Sisi encouraged the launch of another three, in addition to the three in which the study will begin next month, as well as the fourth in which it will be assumes that the study will launch in 2021, so there are seven private universities in different locations. . On the contrary, the expansion of public universities seems to exist theoretically, but with unprecedented restrictions and the absence of concern for quality and order, which was evidenced in the decision to establish a medical school at the University of Zagazig without a hospital university, in addition to the expansion of the Faculties of Media, Politics and Economics without a sufficient number of teaching staff.
Public universities, especially Cairo, Alexandria and Ain Shams, which are the largest universities in number, are experiencing an unreasonable increase in fees for special programs linked to the labor market, depriving many groups of tuition. The rates for masters, doctorates, and diplomas have also increased at rates ranging from 100% to 500% over the past three years. Increases that resulted in large profits for universities, but the latter did not exploit them to improve their services. As the unprecedented expansion in special departments continues, each university has begun to prepare for the failing fees that will be imposed on any student who fails a course in accordance with the decisions of the Supreme Council of Universities, to confirm that there is a possibility of success, and then the student will bear the cost of their education, in a step that will lead to a decline. The demand for college education among the lowest income groups, especially when thousands of them are forced to work to help their families due to unprecedented high living expenses.

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