Thanaweyya 3amma..the drama Egypt has to go through each year. I remember my two years. At that time, I had already decided to come back to Lebanon. And for those who don’t know, the higher education here doesn’t need a specific grade to be able to enroll in a specific university. Actually universities don’t even believe in the whole school thing..not even the government grades. They only want you to pass highschool, then they make you take some tests (related to the major you applied for), you pass?you’re in, you don’t? you’re out. Don’t think the educational system is better than Egypt. Corruption is the big boss here too, it’s just in another form.

Anyways, since all what I needed was a passing grade, I didn’t sign up for private tutoring like all of my friends, not even a single one! And the journey began as they say. The first day at school, the Chemistry teacher told us that we have a quiz in chapter 1 the next day!! She was explaining (sometimes not) based on the fact that we should know the material she’s talking about..well all of the class did actually..but me. The rest of the teachers were the same, except for the Maths Teacher, I loved that man (may he rest in peace) and the Arabic teacher wasn’t bad, it was me who sucked 😀 (I’m not a literature person).

Anyways, so I had these courses and their materials with noone to explain them to me really well. I had no option but to teach myself and that’s what I did. I bought these guides with problems and their solutions because the government books were useless! And I began to take the tutoring papers my friends took from the tutors and study them with the help of a really close friend, R I still owe you this one!

My parents didn’t care about what score I get. They say you study for your own sake, your score is for your own sake, you care about it. They didn’t even believe in the “test” thing (me neither). They believe that my life is the big test, that I make my own future not a few hours of writing on a piece of paper. This kind of support was the best to me. I studied to pass, I studied hard, but I was freaking out like some of my friends were.

This went on for two years,my final score turned out to be somewhere between 93% and 94% which as far as I remember made it possible to me to be an Engineer at the Cairo University. The result? I’m not an Engineer, and I didn’t graduate from Cairo University and I started hopefully a very successful career.

All what I want to deliver to you is that this torture can be avoided. I’m not an exception! I’m not a super hero! I did it and anyone can! The educational system is messed up I know but it can’t be fixed this way, this tutoring system is messed up even more!! It’s not a solution! I wanted to write this piece of diary for one reason: I felt horrible for those two students who committed suicide because of the “Thanaweyya 3amma”, and I feel even worse for their families. I hope their tragic death would make the other families change their look towards the whole subject. Don’t make a piece of paper determine your destiny!! You have a whole lifetime to do that!