Cairo, Egypt — Students sitting for the South Sudan Secondary Certificate examinations in the Arab Republic of Egypt have raised serious concerns over the Arabic language paper, saying the exam did not align with the official South Sudanese curriculum taught in their schools.
According to parents, the examinations began in early December and include candidates from both South Sudan and Sudan who are studying in institutions across Egypt that follow the South Sudan national syllabus. Despite this, students say the Arabic exam differed significantly from what they had been taught.
One parent, a mother who fled to Egypt with her daughter following the outbreak of war in Sudan, said her daughter is enrolled at a school that strictly teaches the South Sudan curriculum. She explained that her daughter sat for the exam at a center in Cairo where more than 120 students took the Arabic paper.
She noted that students had studied the Arabic curriculum for two consecutive years—during Senior Three and Senior Four—only to find an exam that did not reflect the content they had learned. This, she said, created widespread frustration, confusion, and anxiety among both students and their families.
Parents are now calling on South Sudan’s Ministry of General Education and exam supervisors to urgently review the examination to ensure fairness and protect the integrity of the national assessment.
They warned that failure to address the issue could have negative consequences on students’ academic progress and future opportunities.
Omar Dario
