"I have passed through two different education systems. This contrast gave me the ability to compare.

When I was a child, I went to public school in Saudi Arabia.

Everything was good, the only thing you can recognize there is the focus on religious learning (half the time you learn about Islam).

I’m Egyptian and now live in Egypt.

I came here when I was 12 years old. On my first day of school I was faced with shouting and hitting from the teachers. I had never seen that in the Saudi education system.
And the simple reason for that was that there are about 100 students in a class. It was more of a jail than a school. The situation was shocking for me, because I had seen a different school system, but for the majority of students it was “normal” to be treated like a prisoner in public schools.
There was an alternative environment in private and international schools, but you had to have the luck of being from a rich family to join one. I think that public school is a grave for talents and human abilities. Furthermore, everything was taught in Arabic.

The situation wasn’t different in university.

Here is a shocking fact: I’m a bachelor’s degree holder without having to attend one single lecture. I tried once but there were 3,000 other students. So I went back home and studied alone – only going to university for exams. And after graduating, I studied at a private academy, spent a lot of money to be a certified accountant and now I work in another field.

It’s really depressing, but that’s the hard truth.

Here in our education system it doesn’t matter if you are clever, smart or talented. If you were in the public education system, your chances of having a successful career are limited.

I know my story isn’t a good one, but it’s true."

Sent by: Hany, Egypt
Edited by: Kerstin Boljahn