Islam in Egyptian Education: Grades K–12

Abstract

This article explores the important role that the religion of Islam plays in the education of Egyptian children. The scrutiny under which the Islamic world finds itself in the after-math of September 11, 2001 has resulted in calls for educational reform, not only from the outside world, but also from the Muslim world itself. The author has a personal interest in the educational reform debate in Egypt as she has two granddaughters who attend a private Christian school in Cairo. Research for the article is grounded in direct interviews of students, teachers, and parents during a 5-month stay as well as analysis of Arabic and social studies textbooks. This study reveals that while education of children in Egypt is essentially Islamic, the question is: What kind of Islam will prevail? Will it be the Islam of the moderate Islamists who see the purpose of education to be the advancement of the ideals of Islam above all other concerns? Or will it be the Islam of Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, and his government, which promotes national unity and non-sectarian ethics? In this article the author gives a brief review of early Arab education, surveys challenges in Egyptian education today, discusses ways in which the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is attempting to help reform education in Egypt, and, finally, focuses on students and teachers at New Ramses College in Cairo and how they are handling some of the challenges.

Notes

¹ A waaf is perishable property, usually land and buildings, from which the benefits are used for some philanthropic purpose. Education is one beneficiary.

² The differences between Sunni and Shiite Islam are complicated. One difference is in the belief about the succession of leadership after Muhammad. Sunnis believe that leadership should be chosen by consensus. Shiites believe the leader must be a direct descendent of the Prophet.

³ Essentially the word Coptic means Egyptian. It also refers to a late stage of the written Egyptian language. The Coptic language is used by the Egyptian Christian Church (Coptic Orthodox) and members of the church are called “Copts.”

⁴ One wonders how well this is enforced for children can be seen playing in the streets at all hours of the day and night.

⁵ I use the term “moderate Islamists” to refer to Muslims who want to change the society to conform more fully to Islamic ideals through peaceful means.

⁶The interview was conducted by telephone on June 3, 2004.

⁷ Online: http//www/usaid-eg.org/detail.asp?id-9., 6. Cited 10 September 2004.

⁸As of the year 2000, there were approximately 217 television sets per 1,000 people in Egypt. I am not certain if that includes television sets in cafés, restaurants, corner grocery stores, fruit stalls, bakeries, and other shops. Every rooftop in Cairo is crowded with satellite dishes.

⁹At present the birthrate in Egypt is 2% per year. At that rate the current population of 70 million people will be 85 million in 10 years. Due to the age structure of Egypt's population it is estimated that the population will stabilize at around 115 million.

¹⁰ Christianity was brought by missionaries to Egypt in the first century CE. It first spread among Jews who had been in Egypt for centuries. It has been difficult for historians to distinguish between Christianity and the Jewish religion in the first two centuries of Coptic Christianity. For more information on early Egyptian Christianity see: Birger A. Pearson and James E. Goehring eds., The Roots of Egyptian Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986) and Theodore Hall Patrick, Traditional Egyptian Christianity: A History of the Coptic Orthodox Church (Greensboro, North Carolina: Fisher Park Press, 1996).