40 MIDDLE EAST REPORT 255 ■ SUMMER 2010 B eginning in the late summer of 2008 teachers in Egypt have waged a series of public protests against new assessment exams that would determine whether they would receive pay increases or not. In protest teachers argue that the exams are humiliating, questioning their ability to teach regardless of performance or years on the job. hey protest that the exams do not assess accurately that ability anyway, as teachers are often tested on subjects that they do not teach. Above all, they protest because the Ministry of Education’s assessment exams contravene 2007 legislation issuing a 50 percent salary increase for teachers—a phased- in increase over three years that teachers won after years of protest against their unlivable wages. While teachers demonstrate, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) proudly proclaims the assessment or “proiciency” exams its own accomplishment: 847,000 teachers taking the irst round of exams—“a irst step in establishing national standards for the Egyptian teaching profes- sion.” 1 But the problems with the education system go far beyond teacher qualiications. he system is plagued by insuicient funds, overcrowding and a pedagogy based on rote memoriza- tion. Common complaints among Egyptian students, parents and teachers are that little is taught in classrooms, with too many students, too many classes and too little time. Humiliation and physical punishment are common, as is cheating. Violence and theft among students are also prevalent in schools. Despite education reforms implemented alongside neoliberal economic reforms over the past decade, the Investing in Inequality Education Reform in Egypt Marion Wood Dixon Marion Wood Dixon is a doctoral student in sociology at Cornell University. Teachers protest Ministry of Education’s merit pay exams, August 30, 2008. HOSSAM EL-HAMALAWY