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Education in transition: The Greeks and the education in Egypt,1960s-1980s
Abstract
The Greek community’s institutions primarily, but not exclusively, were responsible for the education of the Greeks in Egypt. Since their establishment, the community’s schools were granted with a lot of autonomy due to the Capitulations, as the Egyptian state did not intervene in their curriculum or any other educational matter. The schools followed the educational curriculum of Greece, which focused on the classical studies and Greece’s ancient past. Specifically, the curriculum laid great emphasis on the teaching of the modern and ancient Greek languages and on the Greek Orthodox faith. Consequently, until the late 1950s and beginning of the 1960s, there was less focus on the learning of the Arabic language and culture by the community’s schools. In addition, the schools neglected the orientation towards a more technical training, by focusing on classical or commercial studies. However, the new socioeconomic realities in the 1960s, for example Gamal Abdel Nasser’s focus on the development of industries, where more technical personnel were needed and the government’s focus on the Arabic language brought again to the fore discussions on the community’s adjustment, and thus its presence in Egypt. Therefore, this paper discusses how the community’s institutions dealt with the learning of the Arabic language and the orientation towards a more technical education when new educational policies were introduced in Egypt. It examines the concerns, steps and policies the Greek community’s institutions undertook in order to adjust to the new needs and demands of the labor market during the Nasser’s period. Last, it looks into how the antithetical policies of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat impacted the community’s teaching curricula, and the latter’s approach towards the Greek and Arabic education. By discussing how the Greek community tackled the critical issues of the technical education and Arabic language from the early 1960s to the late 1970s, as they were strongly connected to its presence in Egypt, this paper examines the ways the community’s members understood their place in Egypt, and how they negotiated their future there.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Egypt
Mediterranean Countries
Sub Area
None