CHAPTER 1

The Secular System

T h is system com prises tw o pre-university ph ases, the com pulsory p h ase o f basic
education and the secondary phase. B asic education is further div id ed into two
stages, prim ary and preparatory1 Prim ary education co v ers ages from six to tw elve
It used to be six years, but w as arbitrarily reduced to five years in 1988. and
changed to six y ears ag ain in 1999 T h e preparatory phase is three years, for ag es
tw elve to fifteen The Secondary p h ase is divided into tw o d epartm ents: general
a n d vocational (com m ercial, industrial, agricultural). This phase is three grades in
the general departm ent a n d v aries from three to five in the vocational departm ents
as show n in Figure 1.
B oys and girls are educated in m ixed classes at the primary level, but they are
separated at the preparatory and the secondary stage. H ow ever, som e schools
rem ain m ixed especially in rural areas, w here en ro lm en ts m ay not alw ays be
sufficient to justify the creatio n o f separate sch o o ls fo r b o y s and g irls A ll aspects
o f the curriculum are the sam e for b o y s and girls save o ne girls study hom e
econom ics and boys take agricultural/industrial studies T h e curriculum for each
grade is consistent from school to school nationally and rigidly en fo rced (Lloyd.
E ltaw ila. C lark. & M cnsch. 2001). S tudents have the right to jo in university after
this stage or to sto p at this point and take the secondary school certificate.

U niversity and h ig h er and interm ediate institutes

G eneral sccondarv V ocational G rade (10-

Secondary W

schools secondary 12/14)

stage
(age 15-18) schools
(15-18/20)

Preparatory stage (age 12-15) (grades 7-9)

Basic
education
Prim ary stage (age 6-12) G rade (1-6)

Figure I Structure o f Egyptian Education System (adaptedfrom Mahrouse. 19941

A l-A zh ar System

A l-A zhar education system is supervised by the S uprem e C ouncil o f the A l-A zhar
Institution a n d is independent from the M inistry o f E ducation B ut the A l-A zhar
Institution its e lf is p laced under governm ent supervision, and its educational
system is actually supervised by the E gyptian Prim e M inister The A l-A zhar

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 R EL IG IO N A N D D ISA BILITY

schools arc nam ed Institutes and include prim ary, preparatory, a n d secondary
phases A ll the students are M uslim , and m ales and fem ales are separated in all
phases after the prim ary stage. T his system m aintains the sam e three phases o f the
secular system schools b u t there are no vocational sch o o ls in this system A l-A zhar
students study m ostly the sam e curriculum as their p eers in the secular system , in
addition to the religious curricula T h e graduates o f the A l-A zhar secondary
schools are eligible to continue their studies at A l-A zh ar U niversity only

HISTORICAL INSIGHTS INTO SEN. DISABILITY IN EGYPT

In their review o f the history o f disability in Egypt. Shukrallah. M ostafa. M agdi

and A baza (1997) stated that the history o f disability in E g y p t has gone through
tw o m a jor stages. The first goes back as far as the early d aw n o f civilization during
the Pharaonic era. around 5000 B C , into the C optic era. then to the Islam ic era The
final decline is estim ated to be around the 16th century w ithin the O ttom an regim e.
T he seco n d stage o f dev elo p m en t is the m odern era w hich starts w ith the beginning
o f the 19th century
The first stage is ch aracterized by the d evelopm ent o f num erous indigenous
schools in the different areas o f hum an services. T h e m ost prosperous tim e w as
that o f the Islam ic era P eople w ith disabilities w ere highly honoured and respected
a n d then needs w ere m et based on the fundam ental principle o f equality in Islam
(G haly, 2010). D uring that tim e, particularly from the 8th to 15th cen tu ries, Egypt
w as an im portant scholastic centre through w hich civ ilizations w ere transported to
the E uropean shores in the M editerranean b asin In the field o f d isab ility , there are
m any signs o f interest For exam ple, O m ar B in A bd EI-A ziz co nducted a survey in
the 8th century A D to identify d isab led p eo p le and he p ro v id ed a com panion to
each blind person and a helper to each crippled person w ho could not m ove around
A dditionally. A l-A zh ar m osque and A l-A zh ar schools (kattatib) played a
significant role in teaching m any blind people (O thm an. 1988) A cco rd in g to
A m inar (1954). "blind boys fin d in the Kuttab (singular o f kalfalib) a place where
they can absorb themselves in learning the O ur 'an. and it is m ostly these blind
boys who remain in the Kuttab until they fin ish memorizing the whole o f n" (pn
212-213). H ow ever, the tim e from the 16th century to the b eginning o f the 19 ,
seem s to have w itnessed the dw indling o f all the old institutions.
The second stage is characterized by im porting the w estern schooling system s
and m odels T hese m odels becam e superim posed on existing infrastructures In
m any instances, they w ere born divorced from the social and cultural indigenous
structures o f the society, as w ell as from p e o p les needs (S hukrallah ct al., 1997).
M ost historians agree that the b eginning o f the m odern era o f E g y p tian history
starts in the 19th century w ith the R eign o f M uham m ad A ll D uring h is era. an
attem pt to m odernize E g y p t and its institu tio n s w ent through nearly all spheres o f
life (A h . 1989).
D uring M uham m ad A ll's and his so n s' era. many h ospitals and schools w ere
built and special attention w as paid to education in general. Service delivery
structures, since that tim e until the p resen t day. h av e three basic roots: The lirst.

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CHAPTER 1

and probably the m ost im portant, has been the state. T h is is probably due to the
highly centralized nature o f the E g y p tian state, w hich since the P h arao h s' tim e has
characteri/.cd Egy p t The second is the charity organizations. T o these, particularly
at the turn o f the 19th century, belonged the fo reig n and m issionary organizations
as w ell as the local ones belonging to rich fam ilies. The third is the p rivate sector
G iv en the educational nature o f the cu rren t study, an o v erv iew o f the educational
services p rovid ed to people w ith SEN w ill be presented in the next section

T H E DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROVISION FOR

CHILDREN W ITH SEN IN EGYPT

The MOP! is the biggest p rovider o f educational services for several g ro u p s o f

children w ith SEN Until the 1952 revolution the ministry p ro v isio n s w ere lim ited
to the blind and to a lesser extent, the deaf. A ccording to the history o f education in
Egypt, the first special school w as estab lish ed for the blind and the d e a f in 187-4 in
the era o f Elkhedew y Ism ail. M uham m ad A ll's son. in w hich 8 students (6 boys
and 2 girls) w ere enrolled In 1888 a new school for the blind w as established in
A lexandria by an English lady In 1901 another school w as built in A l-Z citon in
C airo. In 1926 the M O E established an institute fo r preparing teachers o f the blind
In 1927 the prim ary education ad m inistration began to d edicate classes for the
blind and the d e a f m the prim ary schools (M O E . 2005)
T he first form al school for the d e a f w as established in 1950 and the first form al
school for the blind w as built in 1953 w hereas the first form al school for
intellectual disabilities w as established in 1956. A ll these classes and schools w ere
under the authority o f the Section for the A bnorm al w ithin the m inistry, w hich
follow ed the departm ent o f prim ary education In 1964 this section becam e an
independent departm ent and w as renam ed the "th e G eneral D irectorate o f Special
E ducation (M O E . 2005). In 1969 the M inisterial R esolution n u m b er 156 re
organized the state o f education for disabled ch ild ren , creatin g three departm ents,
each caring for a type o f disability, nam ely; the visual im pairm ent departm ent, the
hearing im pairm ent departm ent, and the intellectual disability departm ent
N onetheless, the three are u n d er the au sp ic e s o f the G eneral D irectorate o f Special
E ducation.
In 1990, the code o f practice for the education o f children w ith SEN w as issued
based on the M inisterial R esolution num ber 37 and is still valid today (M O E,
1990) T he M inistry is responsible for special education schools a n d classroom s
and the prom otion o f special education In addition to the role o f the M O E. A l-
A zhar played an im portant role in providing inclusive education to the blind Since
A l-A zh ars establishm ent in the 9,h century, all blind ch ild ren a re accep ted in Al-
A zhar institutes and they study the sam e curricula as their sighted p eers M any o f
the grand Im am s and high intellectuals who w ere blind have studied in A l-A zhar

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 R EL IG IO N A N D D ISA BILITY

C U R R E N T PO LIC Y A N D STRUC TURE OF SPE C IA L E D U C A T IO N IN EG Y PT

S p ecial e d u c a tio n a im s at e d u c a tin g , train in g , and re h a b ilita tin g c h ild re n w ith

d iffe re n t sp ecial e d u c a tio n a l n e e d s It a lso a im s at tra in in g c h ild re n o n d iffere n t
sk ills th at su it th e ir p o te n tia ls an d a b ilitie s, a c c o rd in g to w e ll-p re p a re d p la n s and
sp ecial p ro g ra m m e s, in o rd e r to h e lp th e m ac h ie v e th e m o s t o f th e ir p o te n tia ls and
p re p a re th e m fo r life an d in c lu sio n in so ciety (M O E , 2 0 0 6 ) In th is se c tio n . I w ill
re fle c t o n th e M in is tr y 's d efin itio n an d c la ss ific a tio n o f c h ild re n w ith S E N a n d the
d iffe re n t ty p e s o f sp ecial sch o o ls.

Definition and Classification o f Special Education Seeds

T he M OE defines the child w ith SEN as the child w hose developm ent or
education requ ires special caie. w hich ex ceed s the recourses and cap ab ilities o f the
m ainstream school, for a long or short tim e " Such a child can be classified into
one o r m ore o f the follow ing groups:
- T alented or high intellectual abilities
- V isual im pairm ent
- Ile a rin g . sp eech a n d lin g u istic im p airm en t
- Intellectual disabilities
- P h y sical d isa b ilitie s an d m e d ical c o n d itio n s
- S lo w learn in g an d low a c a d e m ic ach iev em en t
- A cad em ic an d d e v e lo p m e n ta l sp e c ific le a rn in g d isa b ilitie s
- E m otional and behavioural difficulties
- S o cial an d c u ltu ra l d ifficu lties
- A utism
T h is is th e te rm in o lo g y u se d in the E g y p tia n p o licy c o n tex t T h e te rm "in te lle c tu a l
d is a b ilitie s " is eq u iv a le n t to the E n g lish te rm le arn in g d isa b ilitie s a n d to the
A m e ric a n te rm m e n tal re ta rd atio n

Structure o f the Special Education System

Special E ducation S chools is the dom inant m odel o f education provision for
children w ith special needs in Egypt, though the num ber served is still very
lim ited. 36,808 children co vering 1.8% o f children at school-age w ith special
needs Special E ducation Services in E g y p t include only visually-im paired,
hearing-im paired and intellectually-disabled
C urrently, m any children w ith disabilities such as severe intellectual disability
and the m ulti-handicapped mostly fall through the net o f ex istin g services, i.e. no
services cater for then needs A s m entioned above, the educational provision for
ch ild ren w ith SEN includes three types o f schools. A n overview o f these schools
w ill be presented

17
CHAPTER 1

Schools for the Visually Im paired

T raining is provided in these special schools fo r tw o categories, n am ely . the blind,

a n d the partially sighted. T h ese schools have a parallel system and parallel
curricula to that o f the m ainstream education T h ese schools include three stages,
prim ary (6 years), preparatory (3 years) and secondary (3 years) T h e blind has
both day care as w ell as residential facilities and the partially sighted has only day
care schools A lter secondary stage, students can jo in university S tatistically. there
are 88 special schools serving 2,544 students (M O E . 2<K)6)

Schools for the Hearing Im paired

T hese schools oversee the education and training o f tw o categories o f the hearin g
im paired nam ely, the d e a f and the partially deaf. The d e a f have b o th day care as
w ell as residential facilities. It includes four stages o f education pre-school (2
years), prim ary (8 years), vocational preparatory (3 years), and technical secondary
schools for (3 years). In prim ary school, the d e a f children follow the regular
curricula o f the m ainstream school hut in the preparatory and secondary stage they
have special curricula T h e partially d e a f follow s the regular cu rricu la o f the
m ainstream school w ith additional support a n d special facilities. T here are 232
schools serving 14,689 students (M O E , 2006).

Schools for the Intellectually Disabled

T hese schools carc for the cducablc intellectually-disabled children w ith IQ in the
range 50-70. It receives children w ith m ild intellectual disabilities w ho have no
o th er psychological o r phy sical disabilities E ducation is conducted in tw o stages;
prim ary for 8 years (including 2 y ears recep tio n o r nursery) and a vocational stage
for 3 years O n the eurrieulum level, special schools present excerpts o f the
curriculum o f the first three y ears o f prim ary m ainstream education In the
vocational stage, children are provided w ith vocational training for 3 y ears There
is no testing in the regular sense and the ev alu atio n for progress is w ithin-child
w h o at the end o f the school y ears receives a certificate that he/she has fulfilled the
school requirem ents. C urrently, there are 468 sch o o ls serving 19.340 children
(M O E , 2006).
A dditionally, this departm ent caters for the education and train in g o f children
w ith phy sical disabilities a n d chronic health conditions. T his g ro u p includes the
m otor disabilities as w ell as the visceral such as rheum atic heart children. The
education o f those children takes place either in h ospitals o r sanatoria T here is
only one special school for physically d isab led ch ild ren and five (3 prim ary and 2
preparatory) special hospital-schools for children w ith chronic health conditions
(M O E, 2006)

18