Public-private partnerships drive progress in Egyptian education system

Education is been a primary policy priority for the current administration. Since the government of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi came to power in 2014, it has increased government expenditure on the sector and developed plans for the construction of new schools to meet the demands of the growing population.

A significant 2018 education reform and the so-called Year of Education in 2019 have led to several largescale changes across the sector. The introduction of new school curricula with a greater focus on foreign languages and technology has ushered in more foreign participation in the education system and marked the beginning of a digital transformation in the sector.

While the Covid-19 pandemic negatively affected the student population by limiting access to in-person classes, it spurred education technology (edtech) development in Egypt. Programmes that were in their early phases were sped up and improved internet access was rolled out across the country in 2020. While Egypt still faces obstacles to improving its education sector, most notably in infrastructure and the number of teachers, it has made significant strides since 2018.

Structure & Oversight

Pre-university and higher education are overseen by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHESR), respectively. There are four levels in the K-12 education system: pre-primary, from ages four to five; primary, from six to 11 years; secondary, from 12 to 17 years; and tertiary, from 18 years onwards.

In 2018 the government introduced a major new education reform, Education 2.0 (EDU 2.0), which prompted a total overhaul of the education system. Its main pillars include reforming curricula; modernising and developing teaching and learning methods; diversifying sources and moving towards research and self-learning; developing assessment and examination methods; and providing professional development for teachers. The reform also aims to improve access through the construction of more schools and classrooms. The digitalisation of educational resources and the expansion of internet and technology to rural areas will further support this objective. EDU 2.0 will be carried out between 2018 and 2030 in line with the government’s Egypt Vision 2030 strategy, which is based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Sector Breakdown

The constitution outlines that a minimum of 4% of GDP should be spent on education annually. In the 2020/21 academic year government spending on education was estimated to total LE424bn ($26.9bn). This marks a compound annual growth rate of 28.5% from seven years prior, when spending amounted to LE73.1 ($4.6bn). This figure is expected to reach LE388.1bn ($24.7bn) in the 2021/22 academic year, or around 5.5% of GDP.

The number of students in Egypt is growing rapidly, with the total number of pre-university students reaching 21m in 2021. Around 31% of Egyptians are schoolaged, making it the largest student population in the MENA region. With the population expected to reach as high as 160m by 2050, the number of new schools required to accommodate this growth is substantial. To cater to rising demand, the government has announced a plan to partner with the private sector to construct 1000 new schools by 2030. In the 2019/20 academic year 6% of students attended pre-primary school, 54% were at the primary level, 23% were in preparatory schools and 17% were at the secondary level.

Basic indicators have improved significantly over the last decade, with the total literacy rate for those aged over 15 reaching 71.2% in 2017, an increase from 66.3% in 2006. However, this rate remains higher for males, at 76.5%, than females, at 65.5%. In addition, Egypt achieved near-universal primary school enrolment, at 97% in 2018. Secondary enrolment has also increased substantially, from 64.5% in 1994 to 82.7% in 2018.

Since the introduction of EDU 2.0, the MoE has attracted greater private investment by developing public-private partnerships (PPPs). To achieve the goals of EDU 2.0, the government has sought greater investment in the sector to support various areas of the strategy, from the construction of school infrastructure to the development of new curricula.

While there have been substantial improvements in Egyptian education, it continues to face overcrowding in classrooms and inadequate infrastructure. Average classroom sizes are estimated at 47.5 students per room at the primary level. Many of these schools also work on a multi-shift system, whereby different school populations share facilities. Around one-third of students attend single-shift schools, while the remainder attend school in shifts, depending on the availability of the facilities. In many cases, this reduces the length of the school day. In 2017 official estimates suggested there was a need to build 250,000 new classrooms, at a cost of some LE130bn ($8.2bn).

The MoE has developed innovative ways to tackle classroom shortages, partnering with Chinese firm NetDragon Websoft Holdings to run a pilot programme for 156 modular classrooms. These rooms come equipped with smart screens, forming part of the government’s technological modernisation strategy. The MoE aimed to build 3125 modular classrooms in the 2021/22 academic year for 141,000 students to use.

More PPPs can be seen in the partnership between the MoE and National Geographic Learning to develop new curricula and deliver print and digital classroom materials. In October 2021 primary schools started to use the new learning materials for English, social studies, career skills, and information and communications technology. The MoE hopes to roll the programme out to other grade levels over the course of 2022.

Public System

In the 2019/20 academic year there were more than 56,500 public schools in Egypt: 12,493 pre-primary schools, 19,059 at the primary level, 4995 community education institutions, 12,611 preparatory schools, 3861 at general secondary, 2472 secondary technical schools and 1078 special education schools. Dropout rates in the public education system are low, at 0.3% for the primary level and 2.7% for the preparatory level.

In 2020 there were 880,000 teachers working at public schools, a decrease from 890,000 the year prior. It is estimated that 75% of students are in class sizes of 40 or more, a figure that is set to grow if the sector cannot hire enough new teachers. To address staff shortages, in January 2022 the government introduced an initiative to hire 30,000 new teachers annually over the subsequent five years through an incentive plan, at a cost of LE3.1bn ($197m). However, job security and salary levels will be important determinants of staff retention, particularly as existing teachers retire and the school-age population increases.

Private System

Private education is set to continue to expand following the MoE decision to scrap the 20% cap on foreign ownership of schools. Private institutions can now be entirely owned by a person or organisation registered and based in Egypt. This was previously a major constraint on the opening of international schools in Egypt. The British school system continues to be the most popular, accounting for 31% of international schools, followed by the International Baccalaureate, at 29%. In 2021, 10.6% of students were enrolled in private schools. Of the 11m new seats required across schools by 2030, 2.1m are expected to be in the private sector, with 1m of these in Greater Cairo. The capital is home to 54% of the private school cohort, as it has more middle-class households that can afford yearly tuition fees of $2500-30,000. The construction of several schools is planned, including Kent College West Cairo and Saxony International School, which are set to open in 2022. This follows the opening of Malvern College Egypt in 2016.

While private education faces complicated bureaucracy and difficulty expanding its footprint out of Cairo, companies such as Cairo for Investment and Real Estate Development (CIRA), a domestic firm engaged in investment in diversified sectors, has highlighted expansion beyond Cairo as a strategic objective.

Stem

In recent years there has been a notable push to develop science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in public and private schools. The government has partnered with several foreign agencies to establish STEM schools and programmes across the country. For example, since 2011 the US Agency for International Development has supported the construction of 15 STEM schools with a reach of some 12,000 students. These are all owned and operated by the MoE. Other successes include the increase in gender parity, with female students accounting for around 50% of STEM school graduates. This figure remains high at the university level, with females making up 43% of Egypt’s university STEM students in 2017, compared to 35% at the global level. In the workplace, however, a 2021 British Council report on women in STEM in Egypt suggests that structural problems, such as gender stereotypes and limitations in maternity leave and childcare, mean women are under-represented in STEM careers. According to the 2019 Global Gender Gap Index, women make up 24.7% of the Egyptian labour market, and 20% of them work part time. In STEM, 35.3% of scientific professionals were women as of 2017.

University & Higher Education

Egypt has a large and competitive university population. In 2021 there were 27 public universities, up from 23 in 2014, with 3m students, 430,000 of which were at the postgraduate level. Higher education received LE122bn ($7.8bn) in government spending in FY 2020/21, with a large quantity going to completing the construction of three public universities; building two new universities; establishing 12 non-profit private universities; and operating nine digital universities.

Egyptian universities are being internationally recognised, with three among the top-1000 international institutions in the QS World University Rankings 2021. The number of peer-reviewed publications has also increased, with 32,323 in 2020, up from 26,223 in 2019. As international recognition of Egypt’s tertiary education has grown, so has the number of foreign students it attracts. The number of international students enrolled in public and private universities rose from 22,000 in 2014 to 87,000 in 2021. Meanwhile, 1150 Egyptian students studied abroad in 2021.

Vocational Training

The minister for higher education and research, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, announced that through FY 2021/22 the MHESR would invest heavily in technical colleges to help meet the country’s labour market needs. The gap between university education and labour market expectations is a persistent challenge. In 2020 the official unemployment rate stood at 10.5%, with employers citing a lack of adequate skills and job-preparedness in the graduate turnout as obstacles to entry-level employment.

A number of recent PPPs in Egypt have been focused on the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) segment. The MHESR, for its part, is introducing apprenticeship programmes that seek to merge academic and technical training. The private sector is also hoping to develop its TVET programmes, with CIRA set to open Egypt’s first private technical college in 2023.

Despite some 2m students being enrolled in TVET schools as of 2020, TVET still has a poor reputation in many segments of society. In 2018 three-quarters of the lowest-income youth were enrolled in technical education, compared to around 23% of the highest-income youth. The government has made strides to change this, by altering admissions requirements and developing curricula that match labour market needs and international standards. The establishment of the Egyptian TVET Quality Assurance and Accreditation National Authority, for example, has helped to improve standards across institutions. As of 2021 industrial education was the most popular TVET department, encompassing 53% of students, followed by commercial secondary education, with 35%.

Edtech

Accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced many schools to provide education remotely, Egypt has significantly advanced its edtech credentials. When schools were closed in March 2020 the MoE rolled out several online initiatives to support education at a rapid pace. The ministry partnered with global tech companies such as Edmodo to provide interactive lessons, with more than 85% of teachers registered on the online system by May 2020.

Prior to this, between 2014 and 2020 the MoE equipped some 9000 school laboratories and 27,000 modern classrooms with new edtech tools. It provided millions of tablets to schools and students, and fitted many secondary schools with information servers and high-speed internet networks.

Conducting exams via tablet has seen a decrease in schools’ exam-related costs and a reduction in the leaking of test papers. However, there have been some adjustments associated with the change. Hanan Khalifa, director of education transformation and impact at Cambridge Assessment, told OBG that while the pandemic has brought about more rapid digitalisation, a mindset change is required for students and parents when switching to tablets. She said that school leadership must create this cultural change within the school for new forms of digital education to be successful.

Since 2020 edtech has shifted from management systems to tutoring, in support of online lessons, with five investments made in domestic edtech start-ups that year. In 2021 the Egypt-based online tutoring platform Tyro acquired Nafham, an edtech start-up focused on the curricula of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Outlook

Since the introduction of the EDU 2.0 reforms the education sector has been undergoing a transformation. As the government welcomes greater private investment and international participation in its schooling system, the increasing number of PPPs in the sector is expected to support schools and universities across the country over the next decade.

In addition, the need to accelerate edtech adoption in response to the pandemic has seen Egypt substantially develop its digital education service offering. However, sizeable public and private investment in infrastructure and the hiring of new teachers will both be crucial to meeting the needs of an expanding population and achieving the government’s reform objectives by 2030.