Taha Hussein - Positions and Tasks

Positions and Tasks

Taha Hussein held many positions in public life. He was a professor of History, Greek and Roman literature at Cairo University following his return from France. He was also a professor of Arabic literature in the Faculty of Arts. In 1930, he was dismissed from the university following the 1926 publication of his controversial book "On Pre-Islamic Poetry" or " On The poetry of the period of ignorance", but he was able to join the staff of the American University in Cairo and in 1942 he became an adviser to the Minister of Education and a director of the University of Alexandria until he retired on October 16, 1944.

In 1950, he was appointed a Minister of Knowledge (Ministry of Education nowadays) in which capacity he led a call for free education and the right of everyone to be educated. Additionally, he was an advocate against the confinement of education to the rich people only. In that respect, he said, "Education is as water and air, the right of every human being". Consequently, in his hands, education became free and Egyptians started getting free education. He also transformed many of the Quranic schools into primary schools and converted a number of high schools into colleges such as the Graduate Schools of Medicine and Agriculture. He is also credited with establishing a number of new universities.

Taha Hussein held the position of chief editor of a number of newspapers and wrote innumerable articles. He was also a member of several scientific academies in Egypt and around the world.