Abdel-Latif said that prolonged periods away from school negatively impact students' learning and memory, noting that other countries, such as Denmark and Japan, have longer school years, with students attending classes for 11 months.
The move is the latest in a series of measures Abdel-Latif has taken since his appointment in July. These include reintroducing yearly performance scores for students in non-graded classrooms, which account for 40 percent of the overall subject grade. He considers this step essential for improving school attendance.
The yearly performance scores are divided into behaviour and attendance, assignments, and weekly assessments. Parents and teachers have complained about weekly assessments, citing increased pressure as a concern.
At the press conference, the minister added that students' return to school necessitates the return of yearly performance scores and assessments — a practice he said is already in place in private and international schools under "quizzes."
He emphasized that no education system operates without ongoing student evaluation.
Abdel-Latif noted that school attendance rates have fallen to as low as nine percent in recent years, and some schools have even closed due to low attendance.
He attributed the situation to overcrowded classrooms and a shortage of teachers, assuring that recent plans have been developed to address these problems by reducing overcrowding and filling teacher vacancies.
He noted that both issues had been resolved by up to 90 percent since then.
Baccalaureate System
The minister said the newly proposed Baccalaureate system, set to replace the decades-old Thanaweya Amma (high school), has been in place at international schools in Egypt and worldwide.
Abdel-Latif added that his decision last summer to restructure the high school curriculum, including reducing the number of subjects for each grade, aimed to address the challenges faced by three million families struggling with difficult economic conditions and to alleviate pressure on teachers.
Abdel-Latif said teachers in the first secondary grade previously taught 14 subjects, delivering 40 weekly lessons.
However, each primary subject received only two weekly lessons, which he considered insufficient time to cover the curriculum adequately.
He noted that the curriculum required 100 hours, emphasizing that teachers could not effectively cover the entire curriculum in time. As a result, students relied heavily on private tutoring.
The education minister stressed the need to update the curriculum every five years to keep pace with rapid technological advancements.
Religion subject
The minister announced during the presser that religion subject will be included in the overall student grade, starting from the first grade of primary school next year. He clarified that once the system is approved, it will also be included in the Egyptian Baccalaureate System.
He confirmed that the Islamic and Christian religious education curricula will be separate. In coordination with Al-Azhar and the church, the education ministry's curriculum centre will develop a general framework for each curriculum.
The minister explained that including religious education in the overall grade reflects the importance of academic subjects in shaping a student's personality, as they strengthen values and ethics.
“In the context of global openness, religious education plays a crucial role in preserving students' identity and moral orientations and is deemed necessary at this age to provide proper guidance,” he pointed out.
Short link: