Calm and Order: Highlights from the First Day of the 2026 Secondary School Exams

The first round of the General Secondary Education Certificate exams for the academic year 2025/2026 commenced this morning, Sunday, amid intensive preparations and careful monitoring by the Central Operations Room of the Ministry of Education and Technical Education. This ensures a smooth and secure environment for all students.

Students from both the old and new systems, across literary and scientific streams, sat for their first exam in Religious Education, with a total of 868,896 candidates taking the test at 2,032 examination centers nationwide. In the second session, 876,384 students completed their exam in National Education.

Additionally, 284 students from schools for the visually impaired participated in the Religious Education exam under both systems.

Mohamed Abdel-Latif, Minister of Education and Technical Education, monitored the first round of exams through the central operations room at the ministry, ensuring that the examination process was proceeding smoothly across all governorates.

Prior to the exams, the minister communicated with all educational directors present in local operations rooms to confirm the presence of representatives from the Ministry of Interior for securing examination venues across all provinces.

In terms of maintaining order during the exams, Khaled Abdel-Hakim, Advisor to the Minister of Education for Examination Affairs and Supervisor of Central Examination Administration, stated that all stages of work related to secondary school exams are fully secured. This includes printing questions, transporting them to distribution centers for exam booklets, and managing examination committees.

The first day of secondary school exams witnessed complete calm and order across various examination centers nationwide. The various measures taken in coordination between the Ministry of Education and local authorities resulted in a disciplined examination process throughout different governorates. Full coordination with the Ministry of Interior ensured security around examination venues.

It is noteworthy that students from both literary and scientific streams under the new system will take their first round exam in Foreign Language II on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. Students under the old system will sit for exams in Economics and Statistics while visually impaired students will take their National Education exam under the new system.