THE
ENGLISH SCHOOL CAIRO 1957 - PRESENT
An account based on Interviews with
MRS. ENAYAT SAAD EL DIN
On
December 28, 1956, the ESC was taken over by the Egyptian government.
Most of the British teachers left and their positions were filled
by Egyptians. The first Egyptian headmaster, Mr. Mohamed Ghanem, was
appointed and ran the school in much the same manner as under British
leadership. The language of instruction remained English, and the
school's social structure continued in the British style. The prefect
and house systems were continued, but the names of the houses were
changed. The girls' houses became Troy (York), Atlanta (Gloucester),
Memphis (Kent), and Thebes (Windsor) with the house colours retained
as red, blue, green, and purple, respectively. The boys' houses became
Rhine (Frobisher), Ganges (Granville), Nile (Drake), and Amazon (Raleigh)
with the colours retained also as red, blue, green, and purple, respectively.
Athletics and sports continued to be an important part of school life
and included the maintenance of annual events such as Sports Day and
Triangular Sports.
Admission
policy changed with prospective students and their parents being interviewed.
The number of pupils in the junior and senior schools ranged between
800 and 1,000 during the first three years. This number increased
gradually until it reached 2,500 in the early 1980s, and today there
are about 6,000 pupils. To accommodate this rapid increase in the
number of pupils, new buildings were constructed on the school grounds.
The school continued to be co-educational until 1990, when the girls
and boys were separated at both the preparatory and secondary stages.
In 1975, Mrs. Enayat Saad El Din was appointed as the first headmistress
for the school. She remained as headmistress until 1984.
The
British General Certificate of Education (GCE) was discontinued in
the early 1960s and the school began to follow the Egyptian system
of examination. At the end of the final year of the secondary stage,
pupils received the Certificate of General Secondary Education (Al-Thanawiyya
Al-Amma). During the last few years, the International General Certificate
of Secondary Education (IGCSE) has become an option. A small number
of pupils take the required examinations for the IGCSE. The classes
for this option are the only co-educational classes that the school
still offers.
On
July 12, 1999, some members of the ESC Graduates Association went
to visit the school, met with the present Headmistress and some of
the staff, and toured the school premises. The association is undertaking
a study to determine what problems the school presently faces with
the goal of finding ways and means to help this venerable establishment.
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