Parents and students anxiously await the results of the Thanaweya Amma, a series of standardised tests that serve as the entrance examination for Egyptian public universities.

The student success rate stood at 74 per cent compared to 81 per cent last year. 

According to Minister of Education Tarek Shawki, 20,000 students this year received a perfect score of between 90 to 95 per cent, compared to 90,000 students last year whereas those on the top of the list of Thanaweya Amma students were 47 students compared to 39 last year.

Shawki said only 400 teachers graded the exams this year compared to 100,000 last year. “There was no need for all those teachers to correct the exams as most of them have been electronically graded,” Shawki said.

Thanaweya Amma final exams for this year kicked off on 10 July and ended on 2 August. Students took their exams amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Office of Admission to Public Universities, or tanseeq, will soon start receiving student applications to universities.

Minimum grades required for science students is 88.4 per cent compared to 97.6 per cent last year. Mathematics is 80 per cent compared to 94.4 per cent and arts 65.7 per cent compared to 79.9 per cent.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 19 August, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly