Thanawiyya Amma

This is for all those who´s just been through the thanawiyya Amma exams(final High School exams) and got their results. The year is finaly over!

This is the make or break exams that will in some way determine the future for all those hoping to study at the prefered faculties at universities(Hey a society does not only need medical doctors). The year, or as it has been for the last years, two years is a nerve-racking experience for all those involved, students, parents and family alike, when everything in the household is focused on how to help the student prepare in best possible way,including the obligatory private tutoring for those who can afford it(as those woo really can´t, but realizes that this is a necesity if they want their children to achieve the neccesary results), and if one fails, it´s like going to a funeral , when visiting. Of course the opposite happens if the student get the result expected, or a higher one, then the joy has no limits.

This year´s exam showed that girls fair better than boys generaly and that among the students with the best results in the country, there was 23 girls and 17 boys, if i´m not mistaken this has been the trend for a number of years, and i hope that this will show in the coming years within the work force in general, in board rooms of the private and government sector, and indeed that this majority can also reflect ministrial posts, women in elected office, as heads of universities and the diplomatic corps, some of this might be wishful thinking, but everything starts with a dream.

I´m also thrilled to see that the governate of Minya faired so well(No 2 in the country after Cairo), and my special congrats goes to Noha, who passed her exams with flying colours.

15 years prison sentence for ringleader in "thanawiya amma" case, 7 years for torturing a man to death

The verdict in the ¨Thanawyya amma¨ case in Minya vas issued today. The head of Minya's Examinations Committee,Ezzat Khalil Mansour got a 15 year prison sentence and he also loses his work.

I am in no way inclined to think that this is something that authourities should look lightly upon, but bare in mind that a case were a man was tortured to death inside the police precinct, by the very people who is supposed to uphold the law, and defend the public, rendered a seven years prison term for the policemen involved. That the case that all off us are all to familiar with, the Imad al Kabir torture case rendered three years in prison , not to speak about the sentences in al Salam Boccacio 98 case, still fresh on our minds and still staining the reputation of the judicial system.

With this in mind i can´t say that this is a fair sentence. Killing someone gives you seven years, being involved in 1000 people´s death, and you are acquitted, so forgive for thinking that 15 years seems a bit too much....