Approval of the Unified Regulatory Bylaws for the Education System
Education Minister Jalal Al-Tabatabai officially approved the “Comprehensive Regulatory Framework for Education in the Ministry of Education” in its final version, with its provisions to take effect from the date of the ministerial decree’s issuance. This makes it the unified and sole regulatory reference for all aspects of the educational process. The approval came after completing the preparation and review stages, and after consulting with experts and professionals in the educational field, in line with the Ministry’s direction to develop the regulatory framework for the educational process, enhance institutional stability, and organize various aspects of educational work based on a unified reference grounded in the reality and needs of schools.
The preparation stages included reviewing existing systems, regulations, and documents, and studying their implementation, alongside holding consultative and specialized meetings with relevant sectors and leveraging the expertise of specialists and educational practitioners. The Ministry also presented the initial draft to field professionals and solicited their opinions and proposals through its website last June, before refining the content to reach the final version.
Minister Al-Tabatabai stated that issuing the framework marks a new phase in organizing educational and teaching work, reflecting the Ministry’s direction toward building a clearer and more stable system based on unified rules that precisely define roles, responsibilities, rights, and obligations within the school community. He added that the framework is the result of collective and institutional effort, involving work teams, specialized sectors, and field professionals, through continuous technical, legal, and educational reviews, and specialized discussions that tested the proposed provisions in light of the actual reality of schools and the needs of their staff.
He emphasized that the new framework shifts the educational process from a multiplicity of documents, regulations, and directives to a single, integrated regulatory reference, while repealing previous documents and regulations that it replaces. This eliminates regulatory duplication and enhances the stability of decisions and clarity of procedures during implementation. He clarified that the learner is at the center of the development process, through updating assessment and evaluation systems, strengthening school discipline, organizing the learning environment, safeguarding rights and defining duties, as well as enhancing school-family partnership and activating educational, social, and psychological roles.
He pointed out that a clear reference enables learners to know their rights and duties, parents to fulfill their role, teachers to understand their responsibilities, and school administrations to exercise their authorities and procedures, thereby contributing to building a fairer, more stable, and more efficient learning environment. Minister Al-Tabatabai stressed that issuing the framework does not mark the end of the development project, but rather the beginning of the implementation, monitoring, and impact assessment phase in the field. He affirmed that its success will be measured by its impact on school reality, its contribution to improving the educational process, enhancing performance efficiency, and strengthening discipline, responsibility, and educational quality.
The Ministry of Education clarified that the framework consists of 22 chapters covering various components of the educational process, starting from the principles governing educational work and kindergarten, through primary, intermediate, and secondary stages, religious education, and extending to registration, transfers, school system, social and psychological services, activities, school media, distance learning, learning environment, examinations, behavior, and professional discipline.
It noted that the preparation process saw a 100% organizational update for the kindergarten stage, an 87% update for the school system regulation, a 70% update for both the primary stage and religious education, and a 65% update for both the intermediate and secondary stages.
The framework includes provisions that consider the characteristics of each educational stage, relating to academic plans, standards, assessment tools, grade distribution, projects, attendance and absence, and examination violations. It also organizes children’s rights, the role of the family, inclusion of students with disabilities, and distance learning.
In the secondary stage, the framework distributes the student’s grade per semester as 40% for classwork and continuous assessments, and 60% for the final semester exam. Classwork is divided into 25 points for student work and 15 points for short tests. Student work grades include 6 points for participation, 6 for assignments, 6 for behavior, and 7 for the project.
The framework adopted a numerical points and verbal description system (GPA), which converts student grades into achievement levels and numerical points, starting from four points for an “A+” grade (scores from 97 to 100). It also approved applying a cumulative GPA for the secondary stage with weights of 10% for the tenth grade, 20% for the eleventh grade, and 70% for the twelfth grade. If a student fails and then passes the grade in a subsequent year, the GPA is calculated based only on the year of passing, without the previous failure affecting it.
Regarding school discipline, the framework classified behavioral violations into four levels: minor, moderate, severe, and serious, linking them to graduated corrective measures appropriate to the nature of the violation and the educational stage, in accordance with principles of justice, equality, verification, and educational, preventive, and therapeutic approaches, while avoiding corporal punishment and hurtful language.
The framework also organized the roles of the behavioral discipline committee, the school system council, social and psychological services, handling special cases, learning difficulties, and health conditions, as well as exam administration, control office operations, appeals, professional ethics, and violations by teaching and administrative staff, including leaves, thereby enhancing the stability of the learning environment and work efficiency within schools.
