Red Sea Parents Object to German Being Replaced by French in Language Schools

Parents at the Red Sea Governorate's official language schools and distinguished official language schools are objecting to German being replaced by French as the second foreign language for new pupils, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm and Youlyou.

They are asking for the decision to be formally cancelled, for pupils who have already spent years studying German not to be harmed, and for the choice of language to be left to families rather than imposed. Several appealed to Education Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif to intervene, investigate and supply German teachers.

One parent said his children chose an official language school partly in order to study German, because it is the language tied most directly to the tourism sector in the Red Sea Governorate. A shortage of teachers, he argued, should not be carried by pupils and their families: the education directorate should find German teachers rather than change the language the children study.

Another parent said switching language now is a burden, particularly for pupils who have already begun parts of the new curriculum and whose families have bought the books and study notes and arranged tutors before term started. Any change, he said, should be announced early enough for parents to decide before transfers and school choices close.

Parents also asked for the legal and administrative basis of the decision to be spelled out, and for the competent departments at the education ministry and the subject adviser to be consulted before any change to the second foreign language.

Faiza Ahmed, director-general of general education at the Red Sea education directorate, said the reports needed clarification: the question of choosing German applies to new pupils only, and pupils who chose German in previous years will not be affected and will not have their language changed.

The reports do not say how many pupils or schools are involved, how many German teaching posts are unfilled, or whether the directorate will reverse the decision for incoming pupils.

German matters here in a way it does not in most of Egypt. Germany is consistently the largest source market for visitors to this coast, and German is a hiring qualification in hotels, dive centres and excursion companies from El Gouna to Marsa Alam. That is the argument the parents are making, and it is why a schools decision has become a local economic one.