Dr. Yusri Afify, Director of the Curriculum Development Center at the Ministry of Education, said that the Ministry has agreed in principle to increase the amount of Coptic history in books, as part of its curriculum development plan over the next two years.
This sudden decision by the Ministry of Education, although encouraging, but long-delayed, was taken with skepticism.
Education expert Dr. Kamal Moghees expressed concern as he believes that the curriculum development committees are controlled by advisers who are extremists. He fears that the added parts in the Coptic history might not be included in the eras subject to examination questions, because the current part in the history book about the Copts, which does not exceed 6 pages, is not a subject for examination, but only for reading.
Dr. Afify pointed out that the only obstacle to this curriculum amendment, is the division among the Ministry experts about whether to introduce a full chapter dealing with the Coptic era in the history curriculum of the secondary school certificate, or as the other group favors -including Afify himself- a selection of personalities from the Coptic history as being public figures in the Egyptian history, and not in the form of a separate era.
The Youm7 Newspaper learned from a source familiar with the curriculum development committees, that the trend is in support of the second opinion and which is the most likely one to be adopted, thus making lessons in Coptic history as read-only, and not subject to exam questions as other historic eras such as the Ptolemaic.
Dr. Afify justified this surprise move by the Ministry, as being the result of a surge in pressure by Coptic intellectuals on the Minister demanding that Coptic history should not be ignored in the curriculum. He believes that the Coptic era does not represent a big part of the Egyptian history, basing his opinion on the fact that it is not fully taught in the History Departments within the Faculties of Arts.
However, Dr.Basem Elsharkawy, scholar in Coptic history, entirely disagrees with the Director of the Curriculum Development Center, by saying that the Coptic era in the Egyptian history spans over nearly 700 years, spreading from the end of the Ptolemaic era until the end of the Byzantine era, with its influence continuing through the Islamic history until the eighth century Hijrah.
Dr Elsharkawy pointed out that the Coptic history is replete with dramatic events which had an influence on the history of Egypt. He believes that it must be taught to students, mainly the persecution of the Copts of Egypt at the hands of the Roman Empire, and how the Roman population later converted to Christianity, the importance of the role of the Copts of Egypt in setting the principles of Monasticism and the establishment of monasteries. "These events are extensively studied by final years’ students in the history sections at the Egyptian universities, as well as the students of Archaeology, he added.
The increase in the uptake of Coptic history is part of several amendments in the curriculum planned by the Ministry, which sources described as ‘sensitive’. Besides the teaching of Coptic history, these include a proposal to replace Islamic and Christian religious education, by a subject called ‘religion and life’ which would gather common grounds between the two religions. However, this latter has not been widely accepted within the curriculum development committees, and is still under study. The committees, however, unanimously agree on a proposal to decrease the amount of Koranic verses within the Arabic language text books, due to respect for the feelings of Christian students, who have to forcibly memorize them fearing that they might be the subject of exam questions, which places extra pressure on them.