Exemption of officers’, judges’ children from university regulations slammed

A recent decision to exempt children of judges and police officers from the geographic distribution rule when applying to universities has continued to spur controversy, as public figures contest its constitutionality.

Head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights Hafez Abu Seda told privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper on Saturday that he was willing to file a lawsuit against the decision immediately.

Abu Seda claimed that he was willing to cooperate pro bono with any student who legally contracts him to oppose this decision, “especially since it contradicts the Egyptian Constitution which mandates equality and equal opportunities to all citizens.”

“Excluding the children of judges and officers from the rule is a form of discrimination at the expense of other more worthy students,” he added.

Head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, Gamal Eid, shared the same views as Abu Seda regarding the constitutionality of the decision.

He argued, however, that public and media pressure is even more important than pursuing the legal route, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

The issue erupted last week when an official source at the High Council for Universities told privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper that Higher Education Minister Al-Sayyed Abdel Khaleq had struck a deal with the council to exempt a group of students, mostly children of judges and high-ranking security officials, from the geographic distribution rule when applying for universities or requesting transfers.

The minister had purportedly approached the council to propose forming a committee to review the students’ individual cases while granting Abdel Khaleq the authority to rule on each request. The majority of members of the council approved the proposal, while the head of Cairo University, Gaber Nassar, rejected it.

Gaber had reportedly refused to sign off on transfer requests the minister had sent him, “because they weren’t within the students’ rights according to geographic and regional distribution rules.”

He added that his university “doesn’t make exceptions, and if you enforce it, the exception will be the rule for all students.”

Initially, Abdel Razeq and the council’s decision had passed unnoticed, since the two failed to follow procedures to include it in the meeting minutes when it was passed on August 16, privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported.

An insider source told the newspaper that “the minister hid the decision for fear of public outrage, especially since it coincided with enforcing regional and geographic distribution on poorer students, depriving them of admittance to the faculties of economics and political science at more prestigious universities in the capital.”

After the news came out, Abdel Khaleq told Al-Shorouk that “national considerations” were the reason behind his decision. “The concerned figures include officers and judges, and we have to make sure their minds are totally clear and dedicated to their work since they know their children are close to them.”

Gaber argued that the term “national considerations” is loose and unclear. He also asserted that most of the transfer requests he received came from students whose families reside in Egyptian governorates. “They only want to go to Cairo and Ain Shams universities,” he added.

The High Council for Education had already issued an “administrative transfer” decision, allowing children of police officers, judges and state employees to transfer to other universities if their parents are relocated to different posts.

The source told Al-Shorouk that most transfer requests were not related to the parents’ location, “which confirms that the actual purpose is not to be with their families, but to bypass the failure of these students to get places in these universities via regular procedures.”

While the decision was met by public outcry, deputy head of Ain Shams University for Educational and Student Affairs, Mohamed al-Toukhy, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that “the decision won’t affect the educational process or student numbers at universities.”

Toukhy added that “national consideration” is assessed by the minister as the head of the High Council for Universities, and that “as an institutional man who works at an institutional state,” he is “committed to following the decision.”

He pointed that the number of applications Ain Shams University has received so far are four or five cases, “that were accepted on the condition that they live within the geographic parameters of Ain Shams University.”

He added that meeting the minimum secondary school scores requested by the faculties will not be required for the students in question either.