Middle East News
Egyptian students traumatized by state exam, one suicide attempt
Jun 15, 2008, 11:31 GMT
Cairo - Egyptian students have been traumatized by a dreaded high school English language examination, with one student trying to jump out of a window of a school in a provincial town in northern Egypt because of the state exam, a local newspaper said Sunday.
In the town of Hihyah, a student by the name of Mohamed Ibrahim hurried out of the classroom and tried to jump out of a window on the second floor of the school building only about 15 minutes after exam papers were handed out, according to Egypt's independent daily al- Masri al-Youm.
Ibrahim was stopped by teachers. He is now in police custody in Hihyah, 100 kilometres north-east of Cairo.
In another school, exam monitors allowed students frustrated by the same English language exam to cheat by letting them use their cell phones to ask for the right answers.
In other schools in Egypt, students were gripped by hysteria and some even passed out as soon as they took a glance at the English language test.
Every year, the general secondary exam, known as Thanawiya Amma, puts thousands of students, like Ibrahim, their families and education authorities under extreme psychological and financial pressure.
The dreaded test is crucial because it shapes a student's future and social status in a class-conscious country where social mobility is helped by education.
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