Minister of Education and Technical Education Mohamed Abdel-Latif monitored the first day of the General Secondary Certificate exams from the ministry's central operations room, overseeing the conduct of the exams across the country and ensuring that question papers reached exam sites on time.
The students sitting this year’s exams include 918,306 under the new system and 3,403 under the old system, according to the ministry.
Abdel-Latif directed officials to maintain the highest levels of discipline and accuracy in implementing exam regulations, stressing that each education directorate head is fully responsible for ensuring exam regularity within their jurisdiction.
The minister also directed continuous coordination between the ministry’s central operations room and sub-operations rooms in education directorates to monitor any obstacles or remarks during the exams and address them immediately.
He emphasized the need to provide a suitable environment for students inside exam committees, ensure calm and discipline, take humanitarian considerations into account, and provide students with the necessary support to perform their exams in a stable and safe atmosphere.
Each exam complex includes several schools, with a separate entrance assigned to each committee within the complex to regulate student entry, prevent crowding, and ensure smooth inspection procedures.
The ministry said the scale of this year’s exams reflects efforts to ensure regularity, discipline, and proper organization across examination committees nationwide.
This year's exams are taking place as reforms to Egypt's secondary education system continue. Thanaweya Amma remains one of the country's most sensitive educational files because exam scores determine university placement and, for many families, influence students' future career paths.
In July 2025, Egypt recorded a 79.2 percent pass rate under the newly implemented Thanaweya Amma system and 72.7 percent under the old system for the 2024/2025 academic year. According to the Ministry of Education, 785,099 students registered for the first-round exams that year, 728,892 sat the exams, and 574,347 passed.
By comparison, the number of students registered for this year's exams, 921,709, is about 17.4 percent higher than the 785,099 students who registered for the first round in 2024/2025.
The exams are also taking place after a year of debate over Egypt's proposed baccalaureate-style secondary education track.
In July 2025, Parliament Speaker Hanafy El-Gebaly said the traditional Thanaweya Amma system would remain in place, while the proposed baccalaureate track would be offered as an optional alternative.
Education Minister Mohamed Abdel-Latif has previously said the baccalaureate model aims to reduce the financial and moral burden on families. Lawmakers later amended the draft proposal to state that the new track would be free of charge, optional, and span three academic years.
The ministry had earlier described the baccalaureate proposal as part of a shift away from rote memorization toward critical thinking, multidisciplinary learning, and continuous assessment.
Short link: