The State Council decided on Sunday to grant Master’s degree and PhD holders the right to a job.
The decision included Master’s and PhD holders from both private and public universities as well as those who have foreign degrees with the equivalent certificate.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) earlier issued a decision to limit the jobs appointed to those holding degrees from public universities only. The court decided to decline this decision after a bachelor’s degree holder, Ahmed Anwar, filed a lawsuit against the CAPMAS decision.
The court decision followed an uproar from dozens of graduates over the past year who repeatedly protested against their unemployment. Their latest protest took place a week ago at Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo.
Mohamed Sabry, the speaker of the group, previously told Daily News Egypt that this was the graduates’ 45th rally. “We came here after official approvals to start appointing jobs to our group,” he said. “There is already a survey being conducted to identify job openings for degree holders. However, we are still awaiting the cabinet’s final ratification and will not stop protesting until then.”
In December 2015, one of their protests was dispersed by security forces after they were given a one-hour warning to end the protest. Dozens were arrested but later released after a few days, including the protest coordinator.
Earlier in November 2015, dozens of Nursing Institute graduate students protested on Qasr Al-Aini Street demanding government employment. Security forces also dispersed this demonstration.
