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Dear Readers and Fellow-Apes; 2008 was a Murky and Hapless Year! Let us hope that 2009 does not turn out to be even  More Murky and Hapless!

I intentionally did not wish you a Merry Christmas, because Christmas is another story for another Posting at another time; and I do not wish you a Happy New Year, since I believe that ONLY FOOLS ARE, OR CAN BE, HAPPY ALL YEAR ROUND. I do, however, wish all of you A GOOD YEAR! With a little Good in one's life, one can be a little happy, which is all one can ask for in one's short sweet dream one calls a life-time. BY GOD AND SATAN! 

A Jack of many trades and master of all; I am honest to the core and I hate lies, deceits, pretensions, hypocrisy, treachery, betrayal, and stoic compliance; and I despise – and actually pity – Human-Apes who follow-the-herd-or-pack

I expose and reveal the lies, deceits, pretensions, hypocrisy, treachery, betrayal, and blind, deaf, and stoic compliance, and Human-Apes who follow-the-herd-or-pack; I tell or write the truth; and I say what I mean and mean what I say

I fear nothing; least of all, death

If I must fear anything at all in life, then let me fear what I think and  know of myself; because, in the end, one’s knowledge and opinion of oneself is what counts most. All the world may think and believe one is such and such, but one knows one is such and such. Also, I like to look in the mirror and like what I see and know about me.

I invite comments, remarks, criticisms, and even insults – so long as they are straight to the point, in order for me to correct or adjust myself accordingly. What I do not welcome and won’t accept or tolerate is HORSE-SHIT!

Dear readers and felow-Apes; with every page, every report or article, every paragraph, every sentence, every word, and every letter; I thank you for taking the trouble and the time to read My Not-So-Humble Comments.

391: Con-Certs, Dupe-Diplomas, Exam-Scams, and Quack-Qualifications II – It’s not how hard you studied or how much you know; it’s how desperate you are to succeed and how much your parents are prepared to pay
02 October, 2008

Con-Certs, Dupe-Diplomas, Exam-Scams, and Quack-Qualifications II – It’s not how hard you studied or how much you know; it’s how desperate you are to succeed and how much your parents are prepared to pay

SUICIDES AND SCAMS OVER-SHADOW EXAMS IN EGYPT


Gleaned from: Agence France-Presse AFP via Yahoo! Alerts Saturday 12th July 2008

CAIRO: A woman paced anxiously outside the school where her daughter was taking her end-of-year exams. The test had driven two pupils to suicide – a 16-year-old boy hanged himself in his Cairo home a day after taking his math exam, and an 18-year-old girl jumped from her parents’ sixth-floor flat on the morning of her mechanics exam – and sparked a wave of corruption claims.

In a country rife with corruption, where 20% of the population live below the poverty line, a university education, especially a degree in medicine or engineering, could help to break down rigid class barriers – Daniel: 20%! I would multiply that by 2 at least!

The stakes are high for most parents who pour much of their meager salaries into private and extra tuition of $18 a day to help their children in a crumbling educational system in which classrooms are over-crowded, teachers frustrated and under-paid, and schools under-resourced.

Most students taking the thanawiya amma – “A” Level – come from middle and low income families, with wealthier students able to opt for private education at English, French, or German schools.

The social mobility coveted by many students and their families depends in part on two years' aggregated exam results. The fiercely competitive tests push parents to find new ways to help their children cheat......shouting answers outside classroom windows, using text messages or even hiding cheat-sheets under religious garbs – hijabs and niqabs. Daniel: When women and girls are forced to hide their faces and forms from men, they will use it to hide a lot of other things from a lot of other people, too! How simple, sensible, and obvious! BY GOD!

This year the pressure was even more intense amid reports that some exam questions were not part of the curriculum and that papers had been leaked in advance to rich and powerful parents.

The Public prosecutor told reporters last week that 19 people, including a police officer and a headmaster, and three education ministry employees, would face trial for leaking exam papers, but insisted to a flabbergasted public that the corruption was limited to the southern province and did not affect most of the roughly 800,000 students sitting for the exam. Daniel: JEEZ! SUCH HORSE-SHIT!

The case has gripped the nation, bringing together state and opposition media in a rare show of unity to demand answers. Columnists have demanded a re-sit, with teachers and academics supporting them.

A professor of science at Mansura University, and head of the committee that wrote the national physics textbooks, admitted to the state-owned daily Al-Ahram that the exams were too difficult and did not correspond to the curriculum, and called for an inquiry. As a result of his and other such testimonies, a rumour that the government was deliberately limiting the numbers of students entering universities and other higher institutions became an unshakeable truth for many parents.

Small private universities charge about 5,000 Egyptian pounds $900 per year, with fees reaching up to 100,000 pounds $18,000 at the more prestigious American or German Universities in Cairo – far beyond the means of average households – Daniel: It’s all a small matter of big bribery and considerable corruption. The small private universities charge quite a lot and give not a little of it to the low-life scumbag schmucks, and all is well that goes well and ends well. Ends well? Not for those without considerable connections. Read my next posting: 392

A 52-year-old teacher at a public school in Cairo said he makes 400 Egyptian pounds $72 a month, so in order to afford the second-hand Suzuki he drives and to provide his family of five with a middle-class lifestyle, he supplements his low salary with private tuition, and he charges each student 20 Egyptian pounds $3.7 an hour and insists on a class of at least 10 pupils per lesson.

Posted by akill 08:33 | General | Comment(0) | Permalink

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