The paper aims at presenting the religious education at the German School in Cairo (DEO) as one of the very few examples of schools offering interreligious education in Egypt.  In order to give the cooperative religious education at DEO a fair examination, interviews were carried out with students and teachers at the school. The author explains how the cooperative religious education at DEO started, which was mostly a result of the curiosity and questions from students themselves. Although Muslim and Christian students engaged with each other daily, they only knew little about the other religion. The paper also refers to the obstacles the program has endured. Interreligious dialogue at the secondary school level is uncommon in Egypt, which is why the program faced difficulties to receive the approval from the educational administration. Some parents initially refused the class as well, because they feared it would take the form of preaching or missionary work.

The next section deals with the purpose of the program which according to the teachers mostly includes conveying ideas such as mutual understanding and respect. The paper then advances to describe the structure and content of the class. When interviewing the teachers, they emphasized the amount of preparation that goes into teaching the class. They also explained the specific structure of the syllabus, which aims at providing a smooth transition from the conventional religious education that follows the state’s curriculum to the cooperative interreligious education. The different topics are introduced gradually starting from the basics of religion to the more complex matters.

The author then presents the techniques used by the teachers to create a safe and healthy environment in class, which is vital in order to preserve the original purpose of the program and to avoid misunderstandings and any tendencies towards preaching or convincing. In the next section the multidimensional impact of the program on students is analyzed: its impact on their academic skills, their personal faith and their social skills.

Moreover, the paper highlights some weaknesses of the program that the author noticed herself as a former student of the school and that were also indicated by the students and former students, who were interviewed. Some of these weaknesses relate to the teachers’ training and to the structure and content of the program. While other weaknesses that were mentioned refer to certain behaviors of classmates, that counteract the purpose of the class.

The paper then describes the grading system. Unlike most schools, students’ performance at DEO is not only measured through exams but through participation grades that are equally important. This system establishes skills that are very helpful for students in the future. 

The focus is then shifted to the importance of interreligious education for societies in general, with a particular reference to its importance for Germany, a country that is experiencing more diversity than ever.

The author ends this section by explaining why interreligious education is important in a country like Egypt, where lack of in depth knowledge about other religions is widespread.

The last section of the paper features a presentation of the decision of the Ministry of Education in Egypt to introduce a subject of common ethics and principles in religions. The author discusses the obstacles that are expected to hinder the implementation of such a decision and explains that well trained teachers are key for the success of this class.