{"id":16287,"date":"2026-08-02T17:20:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T15:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=16287"},"modified":"2026-09-10T17:21:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:21:06","slug":"inclusive-education-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/inclusive-education-egypt\/","title":{"rendered":"Inclusive Education in Egypt: A Right Guaranteed by Law, a Burden Borne by Families Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">Four years ago, Mona Gamal, a resident of Qena Governorate, discovered that her daughter&#8217;s academic struggles across three years of primary school had not stemmed from excessive indulgence or negligence, as her teacher had repeatedly accused her, but from the child&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/acmls.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/%D8%B5%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%85-%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%A8%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%AA.pdf\">learning difficulties<\/a>, neurological challenges that affect the brain&#8217;s ability to receive, process, and store information and impact attention, memory, and academic skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The daughter was in her fourth academic year when her mother took her to the medical board at one of the Health Insurance Authority&#8217;s hospitals, which classified her condition as mild intellectual disability accompanied by learning difficulties. She was subsequently enrolled in the inclusive education system under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.specialegypt.com\/2022\/08\/Inclusion-resolution-no-252-2017.html?m=1\">Ministerial Decision<\/a> No. 252 of 2017, which guarantees students with mild disabilities the right to learn in mainstream public schools alongside their peers.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Mona had believed that her daughter&#8217;s academic struggles would end with her enrollment in the system, which is supposed to provide her with exams suited to her abilities and appropriate teaching strategies for her condition. Instead, a new chapter of suffering began: the child was subjected to repeated stigmatization and bullying by her peers inside the government primary school, and teachers were unable to account for the individual differences among inclusion students.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The mother recounts that the <a href=\"https:\/\/midadcenter.com\/%D8%BA%D8%B1%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B1\/\">resource room<\/a> in her daughter&#8217;s school, the dedicated classroom for meeting the educational needs of students with learning difficulties or mild disabilities, where a student receives instruction for a set portion of the school day before being integrated with peers in regular classrooms, failed to fulfill its role in providing educational and pedagogical support. Its function was reduced to having the children repeat songs and clap, prompting the daughter to refuse to attend.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She told Zawia3: &#8220;At the school, the word &#8216;inclusion&#8217; was used by children as a tool for mockery or to diminish others&#8217; abilities, which affected her psychologically and caused her to cry and frequently refuse to go to school.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She explains that the shadow teacher, or educational companion, was an additional source of embarrassment for her daughter in front of others, as the companion&#8217;s justification for the child&#8217;s slow responsiveness in class by identifying her as an inclusion student made her a target for bullying.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Despite her enrollment in the system, the child continued to struggle academically in mathematics and English, unable to make logical connections between rules and practical applications. Compounding the problem was the absence of inclusive curricula in Egypt that <a href=\"https:\/\/share.google\/Thb0dsxZkJNNP9hB9\">account<\/a> for differences in cognition and attainment among students. Inclusion students in Egypt study the same curricula as their peers, but with some content <a href=\"https:\/\/share.google\/MvFyTsBLtpAIUDQI9\">simplified<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/share.google\/w6OrHCh0pX5wnerzi\">removed<\/a>, and the Ministry of Education administers their exams using a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.almasryalyoum.com\/news\/details\/3128887\">system<\/a> of 65% objective questions and 35% essay questions.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">These difficulties drove the mother to enroll her daughter in private tutoring alongside academic rehabilitation sessions and learning difficulty treatment at speech therapy and skills development centers, but most of those centers focused on profit more than on providing specialized educational services suited to the child&#8217;s needs.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When her daughter transitioned to preparatory school, Mona attempted to cancel the inclusion decision, responding to the girl&#8217;s wish to no longer endure the social stigma and bullying at school. She took her back to the medical board, where a new intelligence test was conducted using the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/superakhsaey.com\/posts\/0rlcmv89\">Stanford-Binet<\/a>&#8221; scale, used to identify developmental delays, learning difficulties, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The daughter scored 88, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.madrastna.com\/2023\/01\/educational-%20integration.html?m=1\">regulations<\/a> require an IQ of 90 or above to exit the inclusion system (in cases of learning difficulties or mild intellectual disabilities). This resulted in her remaining enrolled in the system, and the girl settled for attending only during exam periods.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Safaa Fathi, a resident of Dakahlia Governorate, saw enrolling her son in the inclusion system as the only available option, after years of searching for an explanation for the academic difficulties faced by the child, who has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome (high-functioning autism) and has spoken English as his primary language since early childhood.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When the child turned six, she enrolled him in a government school hoping he would begin speaking Arabic, on the advice of a speech therapist at the rehabilitation center, but he quickly struggled significantly with the Arabic language subject. She then tried to transfer him to an official language school, but found that <a href=\"https:\/\/egyptschools.info\/p\/%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B7-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B3\/\">regulations<\/a> do not permit transfers from official Arabic government schools to official language schools or distinguished official schools. Transfer to private language schools and international schools after sitting a placement exam in the foreign language of instruction is possible, but the family&#8217;s financial circumstances made this impossible.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When the child reached the fourth grade of primary school and the subjects of science and social studies were added to his curriculum, his academic difficulties worsened, leaving the mother with no option but to pursue <a href=\"https:\/\/www.madrastna.com\/2023\/01\/educational-%20integration.html?m=1\">inclusion procedures<\/a> during the summer. She obtained a recent intelligence test (Stanford-Binet) accredited by a government, university, or health insurance hospital, a comprehensive medical report from a specialist in the condition (child psychiatry, neurology, or audiology), submitted to the Special Education Administration a school letter requesting the student&#8217;s inclusion, his birth certificate, and recent personal photographs.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Despite the son scoring 98 on the Stanford-Binet scale, while the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.verywellmind.com\/what-is-the-average-iq-2795284\">normal IQ range<\/a> is between 90 and 109, the medical board classified him as a slow learner and enrolled him in the inclusion system at the same government (Arabic) school two years ago, but this did not end his difficulties.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She told Zawia3: &#8220;My child has a normal IQ level and needs to transfer to a language school because he does not speak Arabic, but the working mechanisms of inclusion committees do not allow sufficient room to assess individual cases, and I fear this will negatively affect his educational future.&#8221; She called for a review of the diagnostic mechanisms within inclusion committees, as assessments are conducted in a short time that does not permit a deep understanding of each case or a discussion of possible alternatives and exceptions.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youm7.com\/story\/2024\/11\/15\/%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%AE%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%80159-%D8%A3%D9%84%D9%81-%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8-%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%AC-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B3\/6775945\">number<\/a> of inclusion students in Egypt stands at 159,825 male and female students enrolled across different stages and levels of education in general and vocational education schools. Ministerial Decision No. 252 of 2017 stipulates that their proportion must not exceed 10% of the total number of students in a classroom, with a maximum of 4 students per class. It applies to mild or moderate disability cases in mainstream schools, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EgyptianCabinet\/posts\/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A5%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AD%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A7\/1062055845964835\/\">covers<\/a> the following: mild intellectual disability, slow learning, autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, motor disability, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, visual impairment, blindness, Irlen syndrome, learning difficulties, and hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">As for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EgyptianCabinet\/posts\/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A5%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AD%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A7\/1062055845964835\/\">cases<\/a> of severe and moderate disability (intellectual, visual, auditory), they may resort to special education schools and classes, which include schools for intellectual disabilities and accompanying syndromes such as Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, and slow learning; schools for auditory disabilities serving the deaf and hard of hearing; schools for visual disabilities serving the blind and visually impaired; and classes for dual disabilities. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mostafatrapiah\/posts\/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%A9%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%AC-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%A2%D9%A0%D9%A2%D9%A6%D9%A2%D9%A0%D9%A2%D9%A5\/24569405362692318\/\">number<\/a> of students in special education schools stands at approximately 46,994.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Recommended Reading: <a href=\"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/mothers-of-children-with-disabilities\/\">Egypt: Mothers Facing Their Children&#8217;s Intellectual Disabilities Without Support<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">Preparing the School Environment and Training Teachers<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Nine years ago, Sonia Ahmed experienced for the first time the enrollment of her son, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, in the inclusion system, when he was a first-grade primary student at a government school in the city of Tanta in Gharbia Governorate. She was shocked by severe negligence that endangered her child&#8217;s life when he exited from a school window onto the street during the school day, only for her to find him standing in the middle of traffic when she happened to pass by.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Sonia, who is also a founding member of the campaign &#8220;Support Autism Children,&#8221; spent years searching for an official school able to accommodate her son&#8217;s autism spectrum disorder condition, but repeatedly encountered problems relating to safety inside government schools, absent supervision, and the lack of school environment readiness to deal with children with disabilities, while resource rooms were not operating regularly and were often closed.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She told Zawia3: &#8220;The schools my son passed through provided him with no real educational support, and some lacked even the most basic safety procedures. Educational tools designated for children with disabilities, such as Montessori materials, were available in some schools but remained locked in cupboards for fear of damage or loss.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She affirms that the school did not contribute effectively to teaching her son, who is now enrolled in the first year of secondary school, to read and write or to close the knowledge gap between him and his peers, but that the educational improvement he achieved came through learning difficulty treatment sessions he received at home from specialists.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The mother explains that families bear additional financial burdens to provide a shadow teacher or educational companion, given that some government and private schools do not permit their presence despite the need for them to support students inside classrooms. She also points to the bullying that inclusion children face from students or some school staff, leaving negative psychological effects on the children and their families.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She criticizes the current curricula, which she considers do not account for the nature of students with intellectual disabilities. While parents and special education specialists try to simplify some subjects through visual aids and models, this proves difficult for other subjects due to their reliance on abstract concepts, alongside mandatory attendance and weekly assessments that do not account for individual differences among students.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Iman Hamdi, founder of the Dyslexia and Learning Difficulties Mothers Campaign, argues that the inclusive education system does not achieve its intended objectives, because the curricula offered to students with disabilities and learning difficulties are the same as those for other students, with only limited examination accommodations. The problem, she argues, lies not in the assessment method but in the nature of the educational content itself, which does not account for individual differences and the varying abilities of students.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Based on her experience with her 14-year-old daughter, diagnosed with dyslexia, students with disabilities are often rejected by private schools despite the existence of official decisions supporting their right to inclusive education, and the quality of education available to them is tied to their family&#8217;s financial capacity and its ability to enroll them in international schools or provide teaching assistants and special education specialists.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She told Zawia3: &#8220;The campaign has received dozens of complaints from parents regarding their children&#8217;s exposure to humiliating comments or discriminatory treatment inside classrooms and exam committees, and labeling children with the word &#8216;inclusion&#8217; has become a tool for mockery and bullying in some school environments.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She adds: &#8220;Severe dyslexia cases no longer benefit from the presence of an educational companion, even though the nature of their disability makes them unable to read questions or deal with exam papers on their own.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She explains that children with autism and learning difficulties face problems studying subjects relying on abstract thinking or imagination, while schools lack the educational aids, visual tools, and models that could help them understand and absorb the material, alongside the inadequate activation of resource rooms, the absence of real benefit from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montessori-ght.com\/blog\/xwewhfia\">Montessori materials<\/a>, which are educational tools designed to encourage self-reliance, self-directed learning, and the development of sensory and motor skills.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She calls for preparing the school environment and training teachers, activating resource rooms and providing appropriate educational tools, and developing curricula and educational pathways that are more realistic and appropriate to the abilities of students with disabilities and learning difficulties, giving them fair opportunities for integration and learning.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Mohamed Salama, founder of the &#8220;Parents of Inclusion Students&#8221; group, explains that the problems facing students with disabilities and their families begin from the enrollment stage itself. Obtaining intelligence tests and accredited diagnostic scales available only at specific government hospitals is required, forcing families to wait several months for assessment appointments, alongside reliance on a unified intelligence scale for all cases that does not account for the major differences between types and degrees of disability, and the application of assessments in a manner lacking accuracy and transparency.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He argues that exams designated for inclusion students do not necessarily comply with the technical specifications set out in ministerial decisions, whether regarding the form of the exam paper or the nature of questions suited to the abilities of students with intellectual disabilities, leading to rising failure rates and large numbers of them sitting second-round exams.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He told Zawia3: &#8220;The legal companion is required to be younger than the student and not related within the fourth degree, making it difficult for families to find someone meeting these conditions who can bear the responsibility of accompanying the student inside exam committees. The high cost of a shadow teacher is a significant burden on many families, while students with learning difficulties have recently been deprived of the use of an educational companion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He affirms that many teachers and school staff have not received adequate training to deal with inclusion students, leaving inclusion pupils vulnerable to neglect inside classrooms or to discriminatory practices and bullying from peers and some school staff. He also points to the weakness of schools&#8217; physical infrastructure, which lacks ramps or appropriate accessibility facilities for students with motor disabilities, forcing them to climb upper floors with help from classmates.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Recommended Reading: <a href=\"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/medical-councils\/\">&#8220;Come Back for Another Examination&#8221;: How Medical Boards Exhaust People with Permanent Disabilities<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">Accessibility, Training, and Support Service Challenges<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Dr. Iman Karim, General Supervisor of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, explains that engineering accessibility represents one of the fundamental pillars of inclusive education. While school development efforts are ongoing, she notes that rates of full compliance with accessibility codes remain below the desired level in a number of governorates, particularly in older schools, adding that the Council monitors schools&#8217; compliance with Egyptian Accessibility Code &#8220;601&#8221; through field visits, reports from its governorate branches, and citizen complaints.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She told Zawia3: &#8220;The Council works to incorporate accessibility requirements within new development and construction plans, and we aim to apply it as a standard and exemplary model through the Lighthouse Inclusion Schools initiative, which aims to establish school models implementing universal design in every governorate, allowing for a compliance rate of 20% of government schools by 2030 as an assessable and expandable first phase.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She notes that the Council launched the &#8220;Step Toward Sustainable Cities&#8221; project aimed at assessing the level of accessibility in the education, health, transport, and justice sectors, and began implementing its pilot phase in Ismailia Governorate to prepare a comprehensive map classifying facilities according to their accessibility level. It also developed a scientific tool for assessing the general accessibility of places and facilities, based on six axes covering architectural, technological, and digital accessibility, support services, directional signage, and safety requirements, allowing for the issuance of a precise numerical indicator to determine the level of accessibility and develop appropriate corrective plans.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She adds: &#8220;The Council adopts the application of universal design for learning standards within the Empowerment Schools initiative, which includes equipping digital resource rooms with talking book software for blind students, interactive screens, and diverse educational tools suited to different types of disabilities and their needs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Regarding complaints about students using wheelchairs being forced to climb to upper floors, the General Supervisor affirmed that the Council treats these cases as a violation of the student&#8217;s right to safe and independent access to educational services, and coordinates with education directorates and the relevant authorities to investigate complaints and take necessary measures, with the recommendation of urgent solutions such as allocating classrooms on the ground floor for students with motor disabilities until the required accessibility work is completed.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She affirms that the Council recently succeeded in coordinating with the Ministry of Education to issue a ministerial directive obliging schools to designate inclusion classrooms and exam committees for students with motor disabilities on the ground floor, and that work is underway to establish a field oversight mechanism to ensure immediate implementation of the decision.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She clarifies that the concept of comprehensive accessibility is not limited to the construction of ramps or architectural modifications, but encompasses digital and technological accessibility, information accessibility, and communication channels, the provision of assistive educational aids, and the psychological and social preparation of the school environment itself, ensuring the participation of students with disabilities in the educational process on an equal footing with their peers.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She affirms that the Council has received complaints and observations regarding the assessment and admission procedures in the inclusion system, stressing that student assessment must be multi-dimensional and not based on a single indicator alone, but must encompass functional abilities, academic skills, adaptive behavior, and support needs, while accounting for the specific characteristics of each disability category.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She explains that the Council participates in providing technical opinions and recommendations relating to educational policies for persons with disabilities, and recommends the necessity of applying reasonable accommodations and adapting curricula, teaching methods, and assessment approaches to match the individual needs of each student. She points to an agreement with the Ministry of Education to incorporate programming and artificial intelligence subjects for students in vocational education with disabilities, with educational content adapted according to the nature of each disability, and calls for training those responsible for exam preparation, standardizing the mechanisms for applying prescribed accommodations, and ensuring oversight of their implementation inside exam committees.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She reveals that the Council submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Education containing more equitable assessment policies, including the provision of alternatives suited to the nature of the disability, such as converting oral exams for students with hearing impairments to written exams, making written companions available for motor disabilities, granting additional time to students who need it, and expanding performance-based assessment rather than theoretical memorization for some vocational pathways.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She continues: &#8220;We recognize the scale of the financial burdens families bear because of shadow teachers, and we call for the development of an internal school support system that reduces dependence on services whose costs are directly borne by the family, ensuring equal opportunities among students. We also propose training graduates in the duties of a support teacher and the possibility of employing them during their national service period, and we are cooperating with the Professional Academy for Teachers to launch the &#8216;Professional Empowerment&#8217; initiative to issue an accredited professional license for the support teacher or shadow teacher.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She says that the past years have witnessed important training efforts for teachers and school administrations, but the need for expanded specialized and continuous training programs remains. She adds that the Council receives complaints relating to bullying, weak awareness, and insufficient expertise in dealing with some disabilities, necessitating the strengthening of an inclusion culture and mutual respect within the school community.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She noted that the Council has agreed with the Ministry of Education to produce awareness materials and films to be broadcast via the &#8220;Madrastna&#8221; channel, to educate students and school staff about the rights of persons with disabilities, and that work is underway to address the shortage of special education teachers through a class-hour system and conversion training programs for current teachers.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She also points out that Egypt has made notable progress at the legislative and regulatory level related to inclusion, but practical implementation continues to face challenges relating to accessibility, training, support services, classroom density, and varying capacities between governorates, requiring the addressing of these gaps and adherence to comprehensive accessibility standards, the development of assessment and examination systems, the expansion of teacher training programs, the provision of support services within schools, the strengthening of monitoring and oversight mechanisms, and ensuring the participation of persons with disabilities and their families in the assessment of educational policies.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She calls for tightening the penalties stipulated in Law No. 10 of 2018 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in cases of refusal to provide appropriate educational services, and proposes the formation of a permanent national committee for inclusive education comprising the Ministry of Education, the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, and the relevant bodies, to ensure the transformation of policies and plans into implementation commitments that guarantee the right of students with disabilities to effective inclusive education.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Recommended Reading: <a href=\"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/people-with-disabilities-3\/\">Confined to Their Homes: When Streets Become a Prison for Persons with Disabilities in Egypt<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">Absent Appointments and a Shortage of Specialists<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Dr. Hoda Fathi, inclusion expert and former Director of Special Education Development Administration at the Ministry of Education and Technical Education, argues that the inclusion file faces multiple challenges relating to infrastructure, human resources, and support services. New schools apply engineering accessibility code requirements from the design and construction phase, while older schools face major difficulties in implementing the required modifications due to limited space and the nature of existing buildings, making the construction of mobility ramps or other accessibility measures impossible.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She told Zawia3: &#8220;The regulatory ministerial decisions clearly define the standards and categories eligible for enrollment in inclusion programs, limited to mild disabilities within specific parameters, but inclusion must not be reduced to exam attendance or a formal presence inside the school. It must be grounded in achieving social interaction between the student and peers and preparing them for integration into society.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She affirms that resource rooms are one of the fundamental support tools for inclusion students, but their availability remains limited in many schools due to the high cost of equipping them, and civil society institutions and non-governmental organizations contribute to establishing and equipping these rooms. She notes that the Ministry of Education had been organizing training programs for teachers to deal with inclusion cases, but that this is insufficient in the absence of new appointments and the non-presence of specialists in special education and disability sciences inside schools.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She adds: &#8220;Providing shadow teacher or educational companion services requires significant human and financial resources at a time when the educational system suffers from a shortage of specialized cadres. The requirements for a legal companion for cases that need a companion during exams stipulate that the companion must be at a lower educational stage than the student they accompany.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The former Director of Special Education Development Administration argues for the necessity of applying the &#8220;parallel curriculum,&#8221; which allows the educational content to be aligned with the abilities of students with disabilities, but this requires the presence of assistant teachers and specialists inside classrooms to support the lead teacher in implementing this type of curriculum.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Recommended Reading: <a href=\"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/edu-4\/\">Burdens First, Education Later: A New School Year with Shocking Decisions for Parents<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">Limited Resources Allocated to Education<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Dr. Kamal Moghith, Professor of Education Foundations and researcher at the National Center for Educational Research, does not separate the problems facing students with disabilities in the inclusion system from the broader crisis suffered by Egyptian education in general, under difficult economic conditions that directly affect the quality of educational services provided to all students, and more severely to the categories most in need of support, chief among them students with disabilities.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He explains that the limited resources allocated to education have exacerbated chronic crises, including the deteriorating conditions of teachers and the major shortfall in their numbers, making the state unable to provide the additional requirements that inclusive education needs, such as specialized teachers, educational companions, supporting aids, and teaching and assessment methods appropriate for different disabilities.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He told Zawia3: &#8220;Genuine inclusion requires qualified teachers, specialized companions, appropriate equipment, and curricula and assessment methods that account for the nature of different disabilities, none of which is sufficiently available in government schools, creating a gap between the legal texts regulating inclusion and the actual reality inside schools.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He affirms that students with disabilities pay a double price for the crises of education, because they require additional services that many of them do not receive, noting that the economic burdens of inclusion fall on poor and middle-income families, while financially comfortable families resort to international schools and provide individual support services for their children, creating a clear disparity in educational opportunities.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Dr. Hassan Shehata, Professor of Curricula and Teaching Methods at the Faculty of Education at Ain Shams University, affirms that the education of students with disabilities and special needs is an intrinsic right guaranteed by laws and international covenants, noting that modern educational trends adopt the concept of inclusive education as the most effective mechanism for ensuring that these students obtain equal educational opportunities within the school community.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He explains that the success of the inclusion system is tied to the availability of a set of fundamental conditions, foremost among them the preparation of educational materials compatible with the nature and needs of students with disabilities, making use of the various senses available to them in the teaching and learning process, while accounting for individual differences between different disabilities. This requires the provision of appropriate technological and educational means that account for the nature of each disability category, whether through auditory or visual stimuli and supporting tools that help the student understand, absorb, and actively participate inside the classroom.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He told Zawia3: &#8220;The most important element in the success of inclusion lies in qualifying teachers and equipping them with the skills, knowledge, and capacities needed to deal with students with disabilities. The teacher remains the central pillar in the success of the educational process, and any shortcoming in their preparation or training reflects directly on the quality of educational services provided to this category.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He emphasizes the importance of a partnership between the school and the family, making parents a part of the support system provided to their children by familiarizing them with the roles required of them at home, and contributing to addressing the problems their children face, particularly regarding daily interactions within the school and social environment. Students with disabilities may face challenges in their relationships with peers, necessitating the promotion of ongoing dialogue and communication between the family and the school, and the spread of a culture of acceptance and mutual respect within the school community.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While laws and official decisions affirm the right of students with disabilities to inclusive and equitable education, the testimonies of families and experts reveal that the path between legal texts and implementation remains filled with obstacles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>159,825 students are enrolled in Egypt&#8217;s inclusive education system, amid family testimonies revealing closed resource rooms, untrained teachers, and bullying that turns the word &#8220;inclusion&#8221; into a tool for mockery, while medical boards assign children with normal IQ levels to the system, and the quality of available education is tied to a family&#8217;s financial means rather than a legally guaranteed right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[413],"tags":[],"kateb":[1550],"class_list":["post-16287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-en","kateb-aya-yasser"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/\u0627\u0644\u062a\u0639\u0644\u064a\u0645.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16288,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16287\/revisions\/16288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16287"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=16287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}