Egypt Sheikh of Al-Azhar addresses the Minister of Education face to face and warns of a dangerous Western plot against the Arabs

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Egypt, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, warned against plans to hijack Arab education to serve the agendas of Western cultural invasion.

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar said during his reception of the Egyptian Minister of Education and Technical Education, Mohamed Abdel Latif, that education is one of the most important pillars for strengthening the religious and cultural identity of the young and the youth, and it is the protective wall to protect our children from the dangers of extremist thought and cultural invasion that aims to distort the system of values ​​and morals, and normalize malignant societal diseases and behaviors that contradict sound human nature, such as homosexuality and sexual relations outside the framework of the marriage system. Therefore, education in our Arab world must have its own privacy and independent personality, and must be in line with the aspirations of the nation and up to its expectations to create youth cadres capable of carrying the banner of leadership in the future.

He stressed the danger of being led by what is known as “modern educational systems and methods” that have undeclared goals to exclude our Arab and religious identity, and the need to be aware of plans to hijack Arab education in a way that serves the agendas of cultural invasion, and the need for the school to restore its prestigious role and its usual splendor, and for education not to be a burden on families, and for educational curricula to include what guarantees the building and graduation of young people capable of adhering to the values ​​of religion and morality.

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar stressed the danger of dramatic works that aim to undermine the value of knowledge and the teacher, stating: “It is necessary to provide the appropriate environment to respect and appreciate the teacher and present him to students and society as a role model and example, and to encourage him to give and give, and to stand up to attempts to dare him or mock his role, explaining that this will only happen through a sustainable project that is concerned with creating role models capable of inspiring young people and influencing them positively.” His Eminence added: “I remember when I was a student, we had an imam and professors, and our greatest wish was to become like them because of the culture, respect, love, humility and sincerity we found in them, and we still memorize and remember what they taught us and these memories will remain engraved in our memory.”

For his part, the Egyptian Minister of Education, Mohamed Abdel Latif, expressed his appreciation for the great efforts made by the Sheikh of Al-Azhar in spreading the true Islamic religion, and his gratitude for his presence in the Al-Azhar Al-Sharif institution, which has exceeded a thousand years in spreading values ​​and morals, stressing that the ministry has an integrated work plan targeting the return of students to schools, and providing a real educational service that contributes to preparing students for future jobs, in addition to the importance of finding non-traditional means to integrate values ​​and morals into educational curricula so that it is easy to translate them into effective behaviors in society.

The Minister of Education also stressed the Ministry’s aspiration to enhance cooperation with Al-Azhar in the areas of protecting students against extremism, and promoting the values ​​of honesty, loyalty, and honoring parents, as well as other noble values ​​in society, through the assistance of Al-Azhar scholars and professors in a number of workshops, and presenting content to students in a modern and easy form that is easy to understand and suitable for different age groups.

The meeting comes at a time of controversy over major changes introduced by the new minister to the Egyptian education curriculum. First-year secondary school students will study six subjects in the new year, instead of the ten subjects their counterparts studied last year. The curricula have also been redesigned so that the second foreign language becomes a pass/fail subject outside the total. The “Integrated Sciences” curriculum is being applied for the first time instead of the chemistry and physics curricula. Geography will also be redesigned to be removed from study in the first year of secondary school, and become a subject for the literary branch in the following year.

The Minister of Education's decisions today added that the number of school days will increase by one day to become five academic education days instead of four, in addition to a sixth day for activities.

The Minister of Education’s decisions included using the idea of ​​the mobile classroom, which is used in most countries of the world, by moving a classroom in the stage to be in an activity or physical education room, which will help reduce densities. He pointed out that if the experiment is implemented in Qalyubia Governorate, for example, some schools will reduce the density of the classroom from 69 students to only 40 students, stressing that these solutions are practical and came after direct dialogue and approval from parties in the educational system.