According to Egyptian news outlet Al Ahram, university students will be required to take anti-divorce courses starting September, the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year. The Mawadda program, which is done in cooperation with Egypt’s top religious institutions the Coptic church and Al Azhar, is meant at combating divorce which has been steadily on the rise in Egypt. Egyptian citizens, on average, tend to get married between the ages of 22-29. Outside of cities, namely in villages, citizens can get wed between the ages of 18-25. Marrying young is one of the reasons behind the an increase of divorce across the years. As per CAPMAS, Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, divorce rates reached 211,000 cases in 2018. As such, Mawada, meaning affection in Arabic, is an initiative that was launched at the beginning of the year to combat the rising rates of divorce, which especially tend to occur within the first year of marriage. It targets university students and hopes to guide young adults in choosing marital partners as well as tackling the challenges of married life such as conflicts and taking important decisions. Such courses already…
Obligatory Anti-Divorce Courses to Begin in Egyptian Universities
July 18, 2019
