Some 5,000 teachers who work in Al-Azhar schools stopped grading final high school exams for students in six governorates Tuesday.
They stopped marking the papers in protest, demanding equal treatment to Education Ministry teachers, including a 60 percent bonus and the enforcement of promotions.
Sharqiya Teachers Syndicate deputy Tamer Fahim said in a briefing that exams for students in the Ismailia, Suez, Port Said, North Sinai, South Sinai and Sharqiya governorates are all corrected at three centers in Zagazig.
"All teachers in the six governorates have suspended their work in correcting exam papers until their demands are met regarding the 60 percent bonus dispersed for Education Ministry teachers. The ministerial decree stipulates that the statutes of the ministry apply to Al-Azhar teachers," he said.
The head of the Al-Azhar Department of Education in Sharqiya, Sheikh Abdel Latif Abdallah, asked the teachers on strike to raise their demands in a memo to Al-Azhar's grand imam. He also raised compensation from LE1 to LE5 per exam paper in an ineffective bid for calm.
