Baha'i Faith in Egypt
Egypt's Ministry of Education Will Not Refuse Admission of Baha'i Students
Posted: 17 Jul 2008 06:43 PM CDT
According to an article published in Cairo's
Rose Al-Youssef newspaper published two weeks ago
(4th of July),
"Egypt's Ministry of Education affirmed that acceptance of students into Egyptian schools will not be conditioned on their religion, but the only necessary condition that will be adhered to is citizenship." [emphasis added]
The article which was titled,
"[Ministry of] Education: Section of Religion [on IDs & birth certificates] is Not a Barrier to Admission of Students to Schools," referred to an announcement that was made by
Dr. Redha Abu-Sareyh, first deputy to the Minister of Education. The article states that the Deputy Minister pointed to the fact that
"Egyptian schools cannot refuse the admission of any student based on his religion, but the only condition is Egyptian citizenship."The article continues by stating the following: He [Dr. Redha Abu-Sareyh] clarified that Egyptian schools during the current year has accepted "Baha'i" students, or those with the symbol (--) instead of the word Christian or Muslim, remarking that this crisis began when the parent of a student requested that the school issues him an official certification that he is a Baha'i, which cannot be issued by the school because it is outside the scope of its responsibility.
He also said that if the students need an official certification confirming that they are Baha'is, it is their responsibility to resort to the Ministry of Interior because it has the specific authority [to do so]....
Based on this announcement, the official position of Egypt's
Ministry of Education, concerning the admission of Baha'i students to schools, is
very clear. They cannot be denied admission based on their religion.
This development must be seen as a very important step towards the normalization of the status of the Baha'is of Egypt. The Ministry of Education deserves respectful recognition for its firm stance on this critical issue.
