The Egyptian Child Law No. 12
Private schools in Egypt evade directly or indirectly the registration of divorced women's children under the pretext of a personal status law's provision known as "educational custody".
Rabab Hussein, 40, spends five hours a day travelling from her home
south of Cairo, to accompany her son to a school chosen by her
divorcee. Rabab, a doctor’s assistant in Helwan separated from her
husband six years ago, and is bringing up an eight-year-old child, who
is now in language basic education stage.
Although the child is in her custody, his school was chosen by his
father, who did not take into consideration the distance between the
school and where his son lived with his mother.
Rebab Hussein tried to transfer her son to an alternative school
closer to his home, but the school administration refused her request.
School officials informed her that she should submit a judicial ruling
that provides her with the “education custody” for her son or that the
child's father himself apply for his transfer.
In order to avoid raising problems with her divorcee, Rabab avoided
going to court and filing a lawsuit to prove her right to “educational
custody” preferring to endure the daily strenuous trip to the school.
The “educational custody” refers to the law administering the
children's educational affairs before they reach the age of 15. This
includes school selection and registration, file transfers, parents
presence at school meetings and other issues. The “educational
custody” is automatically given to fathers in Egypt in the absence of
marital disputes, but could be transferred to a custodian when a
divorce occurs, in accordance with Article 54 of Child Law No. 12 of
1996, as amended by Law No. 126 of 2008. However, divorced mothers
need to obtain a court ruling to establish their right to “educational
custody” established by law.
The Egyptian Child Law No. 12
Although judicial rulings recognize the right of mothers and grandmothers to “educational custody” after a divorce, many divorced women in Egypt are challenged while trying to run their children's educational affairs because of conflicts with their former husbands. Some departments of private educational institutions have been directly or indirectly intransigent in registering the children of divorced women.
0
Divorce Cases in 2019
0
Cairo
0
Giza
0
El-Dakahlia Governorate
Source: Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, 2019
This investigation documents 12 cases of divorced women whose children's natural right to education has been curtailed by the “educational custody” provision. Some private schools have refused to accept to enroll children of divorced women in the absence of the father or a judicial ruling that grants the mother “educational custody” for the child. The fact that many private schools require a court ruling to establish this 'right', causes children to join schools late, deprives them of schooling near their mother's homes where they usually reside, not to mention the material and psychological burdens the mothers suffer as a result of that.
Below are 12 cases of private schools refusal to admit children due to the absence of the father or an "educational custody" ruling.
Anji 34, was divorced six years ago, and she could not register her
only son who is eight years old at a school that required the father's
attendance to register the child.
As the child's father was outside the country at the time, Anji failed
to register her child in time. Later, she succeeded when she managed
to bring along her son paternal grandmother's cousin. The school
administration later agreed to register the child "since a male from
his father's side of the family was present.”
This dispute led the child to lose two years of schooling. Later this
six years old was enrolled in the pre-kindergarten stage tailored for
admission of 3 to 4 years old children.
Yasmin Mustafa, who gave up all her marital rights in return for her
divorce, did not expect the divorce to affect her child's educational
future, especially as the rupture with her husband happened while she
was pregnant.
To her surprise, Yasmin Mustafa was unable to register her daughter at
kindergarten stage when she turned fours years old, since her father
was not around.
At the beginning, she did not tell the school's administration about
the divorce, citing that the father was traveling abroad. But the
school administration asked her to wait until his return.
Later, Yasmin managed to persuade the father to come to school and
register the child without informing the school administration of
their divorce to avoid the child being denied acceptance. Today,
Yasmin’s daughter is in Grade 4, and the school administration still
does not know about her parents’ divorce.
Yasmin describes her “bitter” suffering trying to hide the truth from
her child during the application process to save the child any
psychological harm, but she knows also that she will not be able to
hide that issue for much longer.
In Giza Governorate, Marwa Eid, 28, has been divorced for three years,
and was unable to enroll her six-year-old daughter in a private
school. "I suffered after all the private schools I went to refused to
accept her on the grounds that one of her parents’ absence would
affect negatively her academic achievement. This eventually led me to
register her at a less excellent school, which overlooked my marital
status."
In an attempt to test the claimed intransigence of private schools
in Egypt to register children of divorced mothers, this
investigation randomly selected a sample of 100 private schools in
the governorates of Cairo, Giza and Alexandria where the divorce
rates are very high according to official statistics. Then, the
registration departments in each school were approached to monitor
their acceptance or refusal of children of divorced mothers and
the extent of their insistence that the mother should hold the
“educational custody”.
About 71 percent of schools directly refused to receive the child
without the mother having “educational custody”. For example, Nour
Al-Islam Private School in Giza Governorate refused to register
children of separated parents without a court ruling clearly
establishing the mothers' right to “educational custody”.
It said, "This is normal. A copy of the “educational custody” of
divorced or widowed women must be provided when applying for a school
place."
Sixteen schools used some indirect tricks to justify rejection, such
as claiming lack of vacancies or other excuses. Thirteen schools
agreed to accept the registration of children despite the separation
of their parents.
The 100 schools experiment
Below are the results of the experiment to determine the position of schools on accepting children of divorced mothers in the basic education stage
100
13
71
16
35
Cairo
5
20
10
35
Giza
2
29
4
30
Alexandria
6
22
2
schools accepted divorced women children
refused admitting divorced women children
evaded the question
In 2017, Minister of Education Tarek Shawky issued circular no. 29 to
regulate cases of parental conflict related to their school aged
children. The circular has set people entitled to custody in the
following order: "The mother and then women close to the mother of the
child have right to custody, and those (relatives on the mother side)
have precedence over those on the father's side". The circular
emphasized that educational custody shall not be transferred to a
non-custodian unless an enforceable judicial decision or a judicial
decision in a matter of educational custody has been issued. The
school or educational entity must be then informed of the ruling so
that it can be carried out as soon as the notification has been
delivered.
Iman Sabri, special education director at the Ministry of Education,
confirms the validity of the decision of Minister Shawky until now
(the date of publication of the investigation). However, she explains
that his decision is limited to government schools, not private
schools governed by educational directorates, that are not part of the
ministry directly.
Sabri says, "The ministry does not intervene unless there is an
official complaint." Most of the complaints received by the ministry
are related to requests for exemption from academic expenses due to
the parents separation, she explained.
Sabri says she believes that the attitude of private schools rejecting
the registration of children of divorced mothers is "normal" as the
school fears that the mother will not be able to settle the financial
dues in case of separation. In addition, she says, the school fears
becoming involved in the parents' disputes, such as when a father
desires to see the child in the absence of the mother.
"The issue of divorced parents is a very special matter and schools
try not to interfere as long as that divorce does not affect the
child's situation, or drag the school into the conflict between the
father and the mother," said Mohammed Mustafa, director of the
Al-Wafaa School in Helwan.
Mustafa explained that he had witnessed conflicts between parents
inside the school, which started with the desire of one of the parents
to see the child inside the school without the knowledge of the
custodian. This affects the entire educational process, he added.
Sabri does not deny receiving complaints about schools refusing to
enroll some students in private schools, but the reasons she claims
might not be related to the parents' marital status.
She said, "Each school has specific admission requirements, according
to which it can accept some students and refuse others. Schools
acceptance committees usually choose the best students according to
the number of available seats, and of course many are rejected and
must find other schools."
There is no explicit declaration requiring a judicial ruling on
“educational custody” to be included as a condition for enrollment in
the private schools that we investigated. However, the application for
enrollment included questions about the nature of the relationship
between the parents – "married" or "separated” – and questions about
who will pay the tuition fees. Most schools also ask about social
details related to the nature of housing (rented or owned), income
level, the name of the social club to which the family belongs to, and
other matters to determine the financial situation of the child's
family and ensure its ability to pay the school fees and expenses.
In contrast, the Ministry of Education sets no conditions for private
schools to register children other than the condition that a child
must be at least four years of age by the beginning of October of each
academic year.
The role of the ministry is limited to verifying whether the school
complies with specific criteria regarding the number of students
admitted, the value of the tuition fees and the quality of the
curriculum taught.
Poussi Mustafa, director of Al-Orman Private School, justifies that
each private school sets its own admission criteria and policy. She
says that " refusal of a student is not necessarily related to the
parents social status.". A large number of children come to school
every year at a time when the school tries to fill its available
places, according to its capacity, she explains. The choices made
depend on factors, including the general situation and environment
surrounding the child, the stability of his or her life, and an
acceptable economic and social level enjoyed by the family. This "does
not mean refusing children of divorced mothers but choosing the
required number according to the best criteria seen by each school".
Numbers of Private and Government Schools in Each Governorate
22504582
Total Number of Pupils
49067
Total Number of Schools
2769
Cairo
2225
Giza
1544
Alexandria
1712256
Number of Pupils
1973933
Number of Pupils
1078031
Number of Pupils
2557712
Number of Pupils
9740
Number of Schools
2891
Cairo
1818
Giza
1181
Alexandria
796237
Number of Pupils
515480
Number of Pupils
305710
Number of Pupils
The numbers are as published by the Ministry of Education in 2021-2022 textbooks
There is no doubt that children are greatly affected by parental
divorces, and by its psychological and material impact. Their
educational journey is usually impacted greatly as well.
"Parents' separation generally affects the wellbeing of
children, and it takes a great deal of effort to raise a normal
child," says Dina Mahmoud, a professor of behavioral disorders
at Cairo University. The psychological condition of a child
becomes worse when obstacles appear, such as the school's
failure to accept their enrollment or the fact that the child
lags behind his or her peers, she adds. "This results in
psychological problems, including anger, anxiety, night
urination, introversion, and stubbornness, in addition to
difficulty in concentrating or learning".
Mohammed Salameh, a legal adviser on family matters before criminal
and civil courts, says that he is frequently asked to obtain
“educational custodies” on behalf of divorced women. Applications
for “educational custodies” are not only related to women divorcees,
he explains. Married women can legally request them to follow up on
their children's educational affairs easily and without any
complications, especially if the husband is not residing in the
country, he explains.
In the event of divorce, the mother is required to bring papers such
as photocopies of the divorce contract, the child's birth
certificate and the mother's identity card. The papers, in addition
to the application form for “education custody”, are submitted to
the religious court registrar for review and evaluation of the fee,
he says. A hearing is scheduled within a week, and the contender is
notified, he adds. One week after attending this session, the
executive form of the educational custody is received by the
plaintiff, hence, getting the document does not take a long time,
according to Salameh.
However, divorced mothers often avoid resorting to court, to avoid
increasing disputes with the father, and fearing he may stop paying
the children's expenses.
Nesma Al-Khatib, a lawyer at the Sanad initiative for legal support
for women, says the problem is not related to the law, as there is a
law and a ministerial decree that provides for granting “educational
custody” to the mother. The problem, she adds, is related to the
(illegal) attitude of schools that are intransigent in accepting
children without the presence of the father personally or one of his
male relatives or without an explicit court ruling that establishes
the mother's “educational custody”.
Al-Khatib points out that there are many mothers who are late in
getting their children to school to avoid complications related to
enrollment, saying that this is a form of school drop-out.
The divorced mothers whom I interviewed unanimously agree on the
importance of a decision being issued that clearly obliges private
schools to accept student registration, regardless of the status of
the pupils parents' social status.
"School administrations should be prevented from excluding our
children from enrolling at the school," said Oumaima Mohammed, a
recently divorced woman in her 40s.
Mohammed is a teacher, and she was able to register her children at
her school. However, she confirms that there are dozens of children
who are refused admission to school if there is no judicial ruling
about the mother's “educational custody” or the father's personal
presence during registration.
She concludes, "We need official support that will reinforce our
right to have the educational affairs of our children taken into
consideration in a normal manner so as not to affect their future or
their mental health."