CAIRO: Security forces detained a schoolboy for several hours after he wrote in an exam that President Hosni Mubarak was a tyrant who ruled over cowards, an education official said on Monday.
Safwat Hassan, 17, wrote in his end of high school exam in Luxor that Mubarak was a tyrannical leader and Egyptians were a cowardly people, an education ministry official in Luxor told AFP.
The official said the boy wrote the answer in a math exam because he was convinced that he was going to fail as he comes from a poor family that could not afford treating school staff to the customary meals during exam time.
Teachers are notoriously badly paid and almost always have to take on private classes and accept gifts to make ends meet.
Hassan was questioned for several hours by local security forces and might be charged with defamation, the official said, without being able to say how security services found out about the boy s answer.
The teenager has been barred from taking more exams this year and will have to retake them all next year, the official said.
The dreaded thanawiyya amma (national secondary school certificate) exam largely determines a child s future in a society where education can help break stiff class barriers.
The exam puts a lot of emotional and financial pressure on families, with yearly reports of student suicides associated with exam results. -AFP
