IV. Discrimination on The Basis of Religion or Belief

17. In March 2008, the chair of the central control committee for the first phase of the General Secondary School Certificate examination (al-thanawiya al-‘amma) refused to accept an exam application from student Khuloud Hafez because she listed her religion as Baha'i on her application, the same religion registered on her birth certificate. After several complaints and extensive press coverage, officials with the Ministry of Education intervened to allow the student to fill out a new application on 18 March 2008. This time she placed a dash (—) in the slot for religion, in accordance with the ruling issued by the Court of Administrative Justice on 29 January 2008 (see section I, paragraph 1 above).

18. On 4 March 2008, a delegation from Egyptians against Religious Discrimination, a coalition of volunteers campaigning for religious tolerance, met with the Minister of Education to deliver an open letter objecting to the harassment of Hala Talaat, a teacher at the Umm al-Muminin Aisha Preparatory School for Girls in the Warraq district. The school principal had issued an official warning to Hala Talaat regarding her refusal to wear “appropriate clothing” and referred the matter to the district education department, where several officials asked the teacher whether she read the Quran and prayed and why she refrained from wearing clothing that covered her neck. After the meeting with the Minister of Education and extensive media coverage of the case, the Ministry asked the district education department to remove the warning from Hala Talaat’s file and ordered the school to refrain from pressuring her because of her clothing.