And, of course, in specialisations like art and sports where pupils don't take private lessons, there is going to be a shortage of teachers. Other graduates, Dawood believes, look for jobs that pay more and demand less effort. Dawood thinks not. Teaching, as a profession, has, she believes, lost all status. Is it any wonder, then, she asserts, that teachers bridle at a five-year exile to some distant school.
Educationalists disagree on the reasons for the shortage.
Aida Abu Ghareeb, professor at the National Centre for Education Studies, argues that the ministry is obliged to accept applicants for teaching positions who are not graduates of teaching schools because teaching schools are not graduating enough specialist teachers in particular subjects. She is also convinced that one of the principal reasons why the supply of teachers is failing to meet demands is because of longer registers as the government strives to attain the goal of universal primary enrollment. But the crux of the matter, according to Fouad Abu Hatab, child psychologist and educationalist, is a lack of co-ordination and planning. We have a surplus in some specialisations and a shortage in others. We have no clear picture of what our needs are.