The Ministries of Education and Higher Education resolve the debate over the completion of the academic year

COVID-19 crisis committee has decided to extend schools and Universities mid-year vacation for one more week in Egypt. The mid-year exams to start on 17 February.

Ministry of Higher Education confirmed that the current academic year in universities will end in July after an extra month's extension, after conducting the first semester exams starting from February 20, provided that the second semester begins in the last week of March. This decision to preparing universities for the procedures for holding practical, oral and theoretical examinations for the first semester to be held on the 20 February this year in the event that the medical conditions stabilize and the second wave curve of the emerging COVID is broken. Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar also announced that university students will be examined on the full curricula with no content expected to be removed. Students have the right to decide to postpone their exams or re-take the academic year.

The Minister of Education announced 20 decisions in relation to exams schedule, attendance options and learning formats. Three of those decisions are:
a. Attendance at private and public-school for the second semester will be optional from 10 March, provided that parents submit a formal request to the relevant education administration.
b. International schools will be able to resume teaching on 21 February, with each school given the right to set its own schedule and policies.
c. Concerned parents can decide if they want their children to retake the school year next year instead of attending the current year’s exams.

Dr. Tariq Shawky, Minister of Education, said that after 9 March 9, schools will reopen their doors for regular attendance again.
The general trend is to complete the school year, in light of the low numbers of coronavirus infections with the first semester exams for all students with transfer classes for two weeks.

Dr. Tariq Shawky, Minister of Education and Technical Education, stressed that no parts of the curriculum should be deleted, as they are linked to each other. According to the time map for the academic year, the second semester is with an average of 96 school days including the exams that start on 15 May.