knew where they were, at least half a minute before I reached their doors. The master squats on the floor at one side of the room, or stands among some of his pupils who are seated in rows or promiscuously through the rest of the apartment. Their lessons are given to them upon slates or large cards, and they sit rocking back and forth and studying aloud.
When they have committed a lesson, they go to the teacher and recite it, and if found perfect they receive another. The instruction consists of reading and writing, the latter generally including passages from the Koran.
Down to the time of Mohammed Ali, the schools of Egypt were not based upon any system; anybody who wished to to open a school could do so, and children were sent there and received on payment of a small fee. Under that ruler a public school system was established; it declined somewhat under his immediate successor, but has been revived and improved, to some extent, by the Khedive.
The schools are divided into civil and military, and the civil schools are subdivided into primary, secondary, and special.
In the primary schools, the pupils receive instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in most of them some foreign language, generally French, is taught. When a certain proficiency is reached, the pupils enter the secondary schools, where they are instructed in Arabic, and may also study Turkish, French, and English. The Arabic course includes history, pure mathematics, geography, and drawing, and sometimes algebra and belles-lettres.
From these schools a pupil may be passed by examination into one of the special schools, which are five in number, as follows:
Land Surveying and Commercial School; Law School; Polytechnic School; Arts et Metiers School; and the Medical School.
The time required for study and graduation in these schools varies from two to four years each. The Medical School has a school of midwifery for women, and is the only institution for feminine education in Egypt. The military schools include every branch of military education; they are on the European model, and many of the professors are Europeans. Every Christian community in Cairo has its own schools, and some of them are quite large. There is an American mission school, and also an English one, and there are French, Greek, Armenian, and Coptic schools, so that the Christians are not likely to grow up in ignorance. Many of the mosques have free schools, and medresse, or colleges, attached to them.