(CNN) - A publication by a school in Egypt sparked controversy on social media platforms, after it included what was considered an obligation for female students to wear the niqab as part of their school uniform, before the Ministry of Education clarified that it was published by mistake and did not represent official instructions, and that the accompanying image was generated using artificial intelligence.
The post was linked to the Naga Saeed Joint Preparatory School affiliated with the Dashna Educational Administration in Qena Governorate, one of the governorates of Upper Egypt, where users indicated that it included a directive to adhere to the niqab for female students, accompanied by a picture showing female students wearing the niqab, which raised questions about the reality of the existence of new instructions for school uniforms in Egypt.
The Ministry of Education quickly clarified the circumstances of the incident, confirming that the post was the result of an error by the administrator of the school’s Facebook page, and that it was immediately deleted, with the school principal and its page administrator being referred to Legal Affairs to take the necessary measures regarding the incident.
The Ministry explained that the image contained in the publication, which shows the school’s female students wearing the niqab, is not real, and was generated using artificial intelligence, stressing that it does not reflect the reality of the school or the female students there.
The Ministry stressed the commitment of all schools in Egypt to implement Ministerial Resolution No. 167 of 2023 regarding specifications for uniform school uniforms for students in public and private schools.
She stressed that any publications circulated through the official pages of schools must reflect the instructions and decisions regulating the educational process accurately and responsibly, pointing out that dealing immediately with the incident comes within the framework of controlling the content published through the official pages, preventing the circulation of inaccurate information, and maintaining the discipline of the educational process.
Educational expert Tamer Shawky said that revealing the face in Egyptian schools is among the controls that have been in place for years in pre-university education institutions, explaining that the matter is related to verifying the student’s identity and the nature of communication within the educational process.
Shawqi added that there is a difference between head covering and covering the face, and that wearing the hijab does not represent a problem inside schools, while revealing the face is linked to organizational and educational considerations within the educational institution, noting that verifying the identity of students represents one of the basic considerations within the school, especially with the presence of large numbers of students and workers, and that the clarity of the student’s identity helps to regularize the educational process.
The Ministry of Education obliges schools to apply uniform school uniform specifications in accordance with the ministerial decision regulating uniform specifications for the pre-university education stages, according to an official statement.
The educational expert explained, in special statements to CNN Arabic, that communication between the teacher and the student does not depend on speech alone, but rather includes visual communication, facial expressions, and non-verbal signals, which are elements that help the teacher monitor the extent of the students’ interaction with the explanation and their understanding of the material, stressing that the importance of direct communication appears more in some academic subjects, such as teaching languages, where the teacher needs to follow pronunciation, the exits of letters, and the movement of the mouth, in addition to observing the extent to which the student follows the explanation.
Regarding the publication circulated by Nag Said School, Shawqi said that the electronic pages of educational institutions need to carefully review the content before publishing it, especially when it comes to instructions or decisions that parents can deal with as issued by an official body.
He added that using artificial intelligence-generated images in content related to students represents an additional challenge, because the spread of an unreal image on an official school page may give it credibility with the public, and then it is difficult to contain its circulation after it spreads, especially since the education sector deals with large numbers of students and families, and therefore inaccurate information published in one school can quickly spread to a broader scope and create a state of confusion.
Shawqi called for setting clear rules for managing electronic pages affiliated with schools and educational departments, specifying responsibilities and mechanisms for reviewing news, pictures, and information before publishing them.
