An Arabic language exam for primary school students in Sharqiya caused uproar for including a question equating protesters to thugs and another requesting an essay congratulating the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) for their success in the parliamentary elections.
One of the questions in the exam’s grammar section read: “While the country was experiencing successful elections the revolutionaries were destroying the country’s history by burning down the scientific complex containing a collection of rare books”
The exam’s composition portion demanded that students write a piece congratulating the FJP for winning a majority of parliament seats.
The two questions outraged many parents, as well as activists who have been circulating photos of the exam online. Sharqiya Revolution Youth Coalition member Yasser El-Rifay said that several activists would file a complaint to the general prosecutor against those responsible for creating the exam content.
Meanwhile, teacher Sahar Mohamed Mahmoud, who set the exam, will have five days of her salary docked and is banned from designing future exams. Two other teachers, Sawsan Yousef El-Sayed and Said Amin Hassan, received similar punishments for failing to properly supervise the exam’s content. Sharqiya Deputy Education Minister Mohamed Hasib has ordered an immediate investigation into the case, putting the head of management’s work on hold, pending investigations.
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