respect for the constitution

The young man, a graduate of business administration, said to me: What is the difference, Doctor, between organizing and setting work rules, and actually managing and controlling work?

I said: Your question has the answer.. In the Arabic language and Arab culture the matter is mixed in the minds. For example, the state is the main school education service provider, and the private, investment and international sector provides educational service to no more than ten percent of the students.. As for higher education, universities and higher institutes, the state has a different role.. The state here is a regulator of educational service because according to the constitution, universities run themselves independently. within a regulatory framework set by the state.

The difference is very big from the state’s role in pre-university education and the state’s role in higher education.. If the state intervenes in the management of universities, whether governmental, civil or private, it is outside the scope of its organizational role referred to in the constitution and stipulated in the Egypt 2030 strategy, and at the same time If the state abandons its role in providing pre-university education service in schools, it is also violating the provisions of the constitution.

The smart young man said: Most of the people do not know the texts of the constitution in the first place, Doctor….

His colleague said: Were all the provisions of the constitution issued with complementary laws that they apply?

I said: Why don’t you search for yourself!!! Let us look at the texts of the constitution and discuss what is being implemented from them, and what laws have been passed to implement them.

The young researcher said: Let’s look at education, then health, and follow up in every dialogue other topics referred to in the constitution. From it, we direct the new members of Parliament to it, and from it we raise the level of society’s knowledge of the constitution of his country.

I said: Great idea… The articles of the constitution that talk about education and the mandates issued in Egypt’s 2030 vision around them are as follows, and I will divide the article into parts and leave you questions about what has been implemented and what has not been done 6 years after the issuance of the constitution.

Article 19

Education is a right for every citizen. Its goal is to build the Egyptian character, preserve the national identity, consolidate the scientific method of thinking, develop talents and encourage innovation, consolidate cultural and spiritual values, and establish the concepts of citizenship, tolerance and non-discrimination. to international quality standards.

2- Education is compulsory until the end of the secondary stage or its equivalent, and the state guarantees free education in its various stages in the state’s educational institutions, in accordance with the law.

3- The state commits to allocating a percentage of government spending for education that is no less than 4% of the gross national product, to gradually increase until it matches international rates.

The state supervises it to ensure that all public and private schools and institutes comply with its educational policies.

Article 20

4- The state is obligated to encourage and develop technical and technical education and vocational training, and to expand its types, in accordance with international quality standards, and in line with the needs of the labor market.

Article 21

5- The state guarantees the independence of universities and scientific and linguistic academies, and provides university education in accordance with international quality standards, and works to develop university education.

6- It is guaranteed free of charge in state universities and institutes, in accordance with the law.

7- The state commits to allocating a percentage of government spending for university education that is no less than 2% of the gross national product, which will gradually increase until it matches international rates.

8- The state encourages the establishment of non-profit private universities.

9- The state is committed to ensuring the quality of education in private and private universities and its commitment to international quality standards.

10- Preparing its cadres of faculty members and researchers, and allocating a sufficient percentage of its revenues to develop the educational and research process.

Article 22

11- Teachers, faculty members and their assistants, the basic pillar of education. The state guarantees the development of their scientific competencies and professional skills, and the care of their material and moral rights, in a way that guarantees the quality of education and the achievement of its objectives.

Article 23

12- The state guarantees the freedom of scientific research and encourages its institutions, as a means of achieving national sovereignty and building a knowledge economy. It sponsors researchers and inventors, and allocates for it a percentage of government spending that is no less than 1% of the gross national product, which gradually increases until it matches global rates.

13- The state also guarantees ways for the effective contribution of the private and civil sectors and the contribution of Egyptians abroad to the renaissance of scientific research.

Article 24

14- The Arabic language, religious education and national history in all its stages are basic subjects in public and private pre-university education. Universities work to teach human rights and professional values ​​and ethics for various scientific disciplines.

15- The state commits to developing a comprehensive plan to eliminate alphabetic and digital illiteracy among citizens of all ages, and commits to developing mechanisms for its implementation with the participation of civil society institutions, according to a specific time plan.

Egypt’s Vision 2030 in education, which was announced by the President of the Republic, states that it must be adhered to on:

1- The first axis: high-quality education available to all without discrimination.

2- The second axis: creating an efficient, fair and sustainable institutional framework for managing education, research and development.

3- The third axis: technological empowerment of students and teachers, school administration and the development of teaching aids.

4- The fourth axis: building the integrated personality of the student to become a normal citizen, proud of himself, enlightened, creative, proud of his country’s history, passionate about building its future, capable of difference and capable of pluralism.

5- The fifth axis: the graduate should be an initiative, able to adapt to changing circumstances around him, create new job opportunities, and compete with his peers regionally and globally.

This vision governs any policies in education. In brief, with regard to higher education, these are the ten policies of its renaissance:

First: Reframing the state’s responsibilities towards the higher education system, its universities and institutes.

Second: Expansion of the higher education system to meet the needs of new students according to a specific and declared vision that includes technical education and training

yep professional..

Third: A radical reorganization of educational institutions with the aim of improving quality and reaching the international levels we choose.

Fourth: Developing a multi- and flexible system that conforms to development needs, communicates and is open to international movements concerned with improving and modernizing global and local teaching and research methods.

Fifth: A massive and integrated move as a basis for placing scientific research and its activities as a life component in higher education institutions.

Sixth: Developing the dynamic relationship between higher education institutions and the labor market.

Seventh: Commitment to academic and institutional integrity, and to clarify this in the mission statement of each educational institution so that it should reflect the values ​​of honesty, accountability and responsibility as basic values, as well as respect for scientific honesty and freedom, in addition to principles that respect equal opportunities and pluralism.

Eighth: Integrating technology and digital culture into the consciousness of students and faculty members with a clear priority that does not allow for retreat and expansion of distance education as part of blended education, but rather to allow specialized and independent institutions for distance education and its expansion within the framework of international quality guarantees in this type of education.

Ninth: The governance of higher education institutions management, and the efficiency of their organization.

Tenth: Developing a climate for higher education in sports, the arts, teamwork, and communication in society to build a human being who is only capable of pluralism, possesses the skills of the twenty-first century, is globally competitive and has the tolerance of disagreement with the other without intolerance or violence.

Once again, I stress that the state’s responsibility towards higher education should continue, but in a different form and form than it was over the course of several years. We believe that higher education must be liberated from: government domination, a situation that has stained universities with the coloration of political currents over a long period of time..

The government’s commitment to higher education does not mean that all higher education institutions should be owned and managed by the government. This is a situation in which all cultural corruption latent in the public sector is transferred and practiced to these institutions to varying degrees. Also, the trend towards encouraging private universities must be within the framework of their global definition, and not be another form of government education with expenses that deviate from the philosophy of society in higher education characterized by equal opportunities and not a spin around free education. Likewise, such institutions must be run, from my point of view, by independent councils, with a quadruple representation of the state, civil society, academia, and the private sector. It is a concept that can be developed and the addition of other stakeholders in different forms, and the representation ratios may also need to be discussed to ensure a relative balance between these parties..

Let us discuss the constitutional obligations and what is being implemented in the next article.