The expanding role of the military academy across various civilian sectors in Egypt has recently sparked widespread debate and drawn rights-based criticism. Observers describe this expansion as a “violation of the constitution” and an unjustified extension of the military institution’s role into civilian employment.
In this context, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights issued a research paper titled “In the Balance of Discrimination: Military Academy Conditions for Appointing Male and Female Teachers”, in which it documented the exclusion of approximately 12,000 applicants by the military academy as part of a state-announced competition to appoint 150,000 male and female teachers over five years, aimed at addressing the shortage in schools.
According to the paper, those excluded had already passed the tests set by the Ministry of Education, which were conducted through the Central Agency for Organization and Administration, before being eliminated at a later stage.
This comes amid an ongoing crisis in teacher numbers. At the end of October 2024, the Minister of Education and Technical Education announced that the shortage had reached approximately 655,000 male and female teachers, a figure reflecting a structural gap that directly affects the quality and regularity of the educational process and increases pressure on schools and currently employed teachers.
The paper also noted that passing through the military academy has effectively become a primary gateway for joining a number of these positions. It stated that “according to the standards and conditions set by the academy,” numbers of male and female citizens are excluded from job opportunities they could have obtained had the selection process remained within its established institutional frameworks, governed by appointment regulations in place for decades.
This role has not been limited to the education sector alone but has extended to other fields, including certain appointments related to judicial bodies, the prosecution, official religious institutions, and other civilian positions, according to experts and politicians who spoke to “Zawia3.”
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Weight, Pregnancy, and Zigzag Running
The origins of the crisis date back to early 2022, when the Ministry of Education announced the launch of a competition to appoint 150,000 male and female teachers over five years, at a rate of 30,000 annually, in implementation of directives by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, with the aim of addressing the growing shortage of teachers. According to official figures announced at the time, the deficit stood at approximately 665,000 teachers.
In the first phase, thousands of applicants underwent tests organized by the Central Agency for Organization and Administration, with around 28,000 successfully passing after their pedagogical and technical competencies were assessed and their medical fitness to practice the profession was verified. However, the appointment process stalled at an additional stage involving tests conducted by the military academy. These included weight measurements, running, jumping, zigzag drills, push-ups, and what is known as a “presentation assessment” before a committee that included military officers and a representative from the ministry. According to the report by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, these procedures bear no relation to the nature of teaching work.
Based on the results of this stage, approximately 12,000 successful candidates were excluded for reasons including excess weight, low physical fitness, pregnancy or recent childbirth, certain health conditions, as well as opinions expressed by some during final interviews.
The report issued by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights relied on interviews with excluded candidates and an analysis of documents from 106 lawsuits filed on behalf of 94 excluded women and 12 excluded men. It concluded that these procedures resulted in the denial of appointment to thousands for reasons unrelated to the core of the educational process, evaluating them in light of the constitution, national laws, and international conventions binding on Egypt.
For his part, Mohamed Sayed, head of the education file at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, argues that the exclusion of approximately 12,000 applicants effectively deprives them of formal appointment, despite many of them already working within the Ministry of Education under a “per-lesson” system or on a voluntary basis.
He adds, in statements to “Zawia3,” that physical fitness and weight requirements are not based on logic مرتبط with the nature of the teaching profession. However, this approach began within the Ministry of Transport and was later generalized by a presidential decision to include multiple sectors. He explains that this mechanism was legally reinforced through a provision stipulating that teachers may not be contracted unless they pass training determined by the Minister of Education, effectively making military academy tests the gateway to appointment.
Sayed considers these procedures to be in violation of constitutional and legal frameworks, as they are based on practices that involve discrimination against male and female teachers. On the social and economic level, he points out that many of those excluded have been forced to continue working under the “per-lesson” system or to resort to private tutoring after their chances of government appointment declined. He emphasizes that the attractiveness of public employment is not tied to salary levels as much as it is to social security, the right to a pension, and job stability.
Meanwhile, Freddy El-Bayadi, a member of the House of Representatives representing the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, believes that what occurred in the teacher recruitment competition raises a constitutional and legal problem that goes beyond the education sector itself.
He explains, in statements to “Zawia3,” that the recruitment process initially followed announced rules through the Central Agency for Organization and Administration, but additional requirements and criteria were later introduced that were not part of the original competition conditions, including physical tests and a “presentation assessment” conducted within an institution of a military nature. He argues that modifying selection criteria after procedures have begun undermines the principles of transparency and legal certainty.
El-Bayadi notes that the Egyptian Constitution stipulates in Article 14 that public positions are a right for citizens based on competence without favoritism or mediation, while Article 53 establishes the principle of equality and non-discrimination. He adds that excluding applicants, particularly women, for reasons related to pregnancy or physical standards unrelated to the nature of teaching raises suspicions of discrimination not grounded in any objective necessity imposed by the requirements of the job.
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The Military Academy and an Expanding Role
The Egyptian Military Academy was officially established in 2022 under Law No. 149 of 2022, approved by the House of Representatives and issued by the President of the Republic, to serve as a higher educational institution affiliated with the Ministry of Defense, according to Article 1 of the law. Its main headquarters is in Cairo Governorate, and it may establish additional branches by presidential decree based on a proposal from the Minister of Defense. It is referred to in the law as “the Academy.”
Under its umbrella, it includes a number of specialized military colleges and institutes, such as the Military College, the Air Force College, the Air Defense College, and the Naval College, among others, within a single institution known as the Egyptian Military Academy, in accordance with Article 4 of the law.
Article 2 of the law stipulates that “the Academy aims to prepare and graduate officers who possess the efficiency and tactical, technical, scientific, and practical military qualifications necessary to serve as leaders of small units in the Armed Forces of the Arab Republic of Egypt.”
Article 3 further states that “the Academy shall exercise all competencies necessary to achieve the objectives of Article 2 of the law, and in particular: conducting research related to educational aspects and research aligned with the general policy of military research; supplying the Armed Forces with specialized officers in various scientific fields; contributing to military studies and areas related to strengthening the strategic capabilities of the Arab Republic of Egypt; cooperating with the relevant bodies of the Armed Forces to develop military sciences; strengthening scientific and cultural ties with similar academies and institutions at the Arab and international levels; and any other competencies determined by the Minister of Defense.”
The article does not explicitly refer to any role for the Academy within civilian government institutions, as it focuses on military objectives and services related to the Armed Forces. However, the clause allowing “other competencies determined by the Minister of Defense” remains an open door for potential further interventions and expansions.
Despite the law’s focus on military service, education, and training within the Armed Forces, the roles assumed by the military academy in recent years have extended to training and recruitment within civilian institutions.
Freddy El-Bayadi points out that expanding the assignment of evaluating and selecting candidates for civilian positions to entities of a military nature raises questions about the functional separation between civilian and military domains.
He emphasizes that the principle in a constitutional state is respect for the jurisdiction of each authority within clear and defined legal frameworks. He stresses that the objection is not to the idea of training or qualification itself, but to altering appointment criteria after examinations have been passed and imposing conditions that were not previously announced and are not aligned with the nature of the job. He calls for a comprehensive review of the adopted mechanism, prior announcement of criteria, and enabling excluded applicants to exercise an effective right to appeal, to ensure that appointments to civilian positions remain based solely on professional competence, in protection of the principles of equal opportunity and the rule of law.
At the end of last January, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced, during a visit to the Academy in the New Administrative Capital, that judges would join the Academy’s programs in the following days. This announcement came amid controversy raised by the Judges Club after an emergency general assembly convened to discuss the move, with some members considering it an infringement on judicial independence.
The objections focused on the principle of jurisdiction, as critics of the decision argued that matters of appointment, promotion, and judicial qualification fall exclusively within the responsibilities of judicial bodies themselves, in accordance with constitutional guarantees of judicial independence and the separation of powers.
In the same context, Abdel Razek Mostafa tells “Zawia3” that one of the fundamental pillars of the modern state is the non-interference of authorities. Assigning the file of appointments or promotions, which constitutes the backbone of judges’ career paths, to a military entity grants the executive authority indirect tools of pressure over the judge’s convictions and orientations, which may weaken the impartiality required to adjudicate disputes, particularly when the state is a party to them. He refers to Article 188 of the Egyptian Constitution, which states: “The judiciary shall have jurisdiction over all disputes and crimes… and shall be managed by a supreme council regulated by law in terms of its formation and competencies.”
Accordingly, Mostafa considers that any transfer of appointment or promotion competencies to an entity outside the framework of the Supreme Council of Judicial Bodies or the councils specific to each judicial body constitutes a clear violation of the Constitution, which confines the management of judges’ affairs to the judiciary itself.
The human rights lawyer also notes that the United Nations Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary emphasize the necessity of guaranteeing judicial independence, and that the selection and promotion of judges must be based on objective criteria. From this perspective, introducing the military academy as a standard for promotions moves beyond legal competence into the realm of security or military considerations, which is rejected by international legal doctrine.
Last November, the Egyptian president spoke about the role of the military academy in filling civilian positions during his attendance at “presentation assessment” tests for students applying to join the Egyptian Military Academy and military colleges at the Academy’s headquarters in the New Administrative Capital. He affirmed that the state had adopted a pathway to implement a unified qualification program for those seeking to join government employment.
El-Sisi explained that this program requires enrollment in a military college for six months prior to assuming duties within the state’s administrative apparatus, with the aim of enhancing efficiency, discipline, and institutional commitment within state bodies.
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A New Undermining of Civilian Life
The controversy surrounding circulating reports about assigning certain appointment and promotion files within the judiciary to the Egyptian Military Academy cannot be separated from the broader context Egypt has witnessed in recent years. The military institution’s presence has expanded in managing multiple sectors of public affairs, no longer limited to the security and defense domains.
Since 2013, the military institution has assumed an increasingly prominent role in infrastructure, the economy, and local administration. Current and former officers have also occupied executive positions in a number of civilian institutions, within the framework of an official policy that presents military expertise as a model of discipline, efficiency, and rapid implementation.
Within this context, the Egyptian Military Academy no longer appears merely as an educational institution for preparing officers, but has become one of the tools of this institutional expansion. Its role is no longer confined to combat training or traditional military qualification; it has expanded to include offering programs and courses in administrative and organizational fields, presented as qualifying participants for work across a broader scope of public life.
Experts believe that this shift reflects a noticeable change in the official perception of the nature of “military expertise,” which is no longer framed as a specialized experience limited to defense and security, but rather as a general administrative model applicable to civilian institutions, including those presumed to enjoy specific functional and administrative independence, such as the judiciary.
In this context, Amr Hashem Rabie, professor of political science and expert at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, says that “the expansion of the military academy’s role in training civilians and appointing retired officers to civilian positions is not merely a matter of improving performance or regulating the system, but part of a broader process of militarizing society as a whole. This approach is based on excessive trust in everything military and a continuous skepticism toward everything civilian, creating a culture of fear and self-censorship among civilian officials.”
He adds, in statements to “Zawia3,” that what is being witnessed today in the placement of a considerable number of retired officers in various civilian positions, from heads of city councils and national authorities to leadership roles in ministries and institutions, weakens the capacity of civilian administration to make independent decisions. It transforms civilian jobs into mechanisms for implementing military orders rather than functioning as flexible civil administration, leading to an escalation of political and administrative corruption.
Rabie continues that this does not mean the military or civilians are inherently “bad,” as every institution or sector contains both positive and negative aspects. However, military dominance over civilian life alters the nature of governance and undermines the foundations of a civil state. Any uncalculated integration of military mentality into civilian institutions leads to the dominance of a command-based system, marginalizing dissenting views and democratic mechanisms in leadership and management.
Conversely, such military encroachment into civilian life has negative effects even on the military itself, as it restricts its ability to perform its core functions and weakens its effectiveness. It also harms decision-makers, governance structures, and the president, as it creates an environment in which decision-making and accountability are feared, increasing corruption, weakening oversight, and making it difficult to distinguish between what is “right” and “wrong,” Rabie says.
Drawing a parallel with what occurred previously with religious currents, the political science professor expresses hope for a separation between military and civilian life to ensure a truly civil state, neither military nor religious, capable of functioning with efficiency, transparency, and accountability under legal and administrative oversight.
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Alongside the developments witnessed in the teacher recruitment competition, including the introduction of tests and training through the Egyptian Military Academy, and the announcement by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi regarding the inclusion of judges in the Academy’s programs as part of pre-appointment training, the Academy itself imposes specific criteria governing admission.
In June 2024, the Academy celebrated the graduation of the first cohort of appointees to judicial bodies after completing a comprehensive training program conducted in coordination with the Ministry of Justice. The program included specialized legal and administrative skills prior to assuming judicial duties. The Academy later oversaw the graduation of subsequent cohorts following similar training programs, most notably the graduation of the fourth cohort of appointees to judicial bodies in January of this year, attended by senior Armed Forces leaders and officials from the Ministry of Justice. It also established cooperation with the State Lawsuits Authority, including the provision of courses in areas such as digital transformation.
As part of its cooperation with the Administrative Prosecution Authority, the Egyptian Military Academy provides specialized training programs aimed at enhancing the efficiency of its members in fields such as leadership strategies, administrative governance, strategic planning, and crisis management.
The Academy’s role has also extended to cooperation with the Ministry of Awqaf in training and qualifying imams and religious leaders, under the premise of reshaping religious discourse and linking it to considerations of national security and institutional discipline.
For his part, Medhat El-Zahed, head of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, warns in statements to “Zawia3” of the significant harm inflicted on society by the militarization of public life and various professions.
El-Zahed adds that the recent trend of imposing training programs at the military academy on diplomats, teachers, judges, and others “does not enhance discipline as claimed, but rather undermines the capacity for development and creativity within scientific and educational institutions in accordance with established norms.”
He explains that there is a fundamental difference between the nature of military colleges, such as police academies, which are based on loyalty, discipline, and obedience to orders, and institutions such as faculties of law, which prepare prosecutors and judges on the basis of free inquiry, independent reasoning, and autonomous decision-making.
El-Zahed continues that a democratic civil society cannot be built on loyalty, discipline, and command structures, but rather requires diversity, pluralism, freedom of thought and creativity, respect for academic freedoms, and freedom of scientific research. He argues that the militarization of civilian institutions “does not contribute to building the state or the nation, but instead deepens bureaucracy and hierarchy, weakens institutional performance, and restricts freedom of opinion and thought within society.”
The expanding role of the military academy in civilian life in recent years reveals a clear orientation toward fundamental transformations in the structure of the state and its governance mechanisms, reflecting a tendency to subordinate the civilian sphere and elevate the military one. Military qualification is no longer confined to preparing officers for combat roles within police and military colleges, but has extended to judicial, educational, administrative, and religious functions, and may in the future encompass all positions across government institutions.
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