Quality education falls out of reach for many Egyptians

With record increases in tuition fees at all levels, good schooling is becoming something only the rich can afford as the effects of the country’s economic liberalisation reverberate

Eduardo Ramon

Parents who can afford it are increasingly forking out money for private lessons for their children to compensate for Egypt's deteriorating education system.

Quality education falls out of reach for many Egyptians

Marcelle Nasr

last update on 23 Sep 2024

As the Egyptian pound continues to depreciate and prices soar, families are now having to make painful compromises. Once a free public service, education has become unaffordable to many Egyptians, affecting both public and private institutions alike.

This comes as the country has tried to implement a slew of education reforms to promote sustainable development. But while the reforms need a long time before their effects are fully felt, the price hikes are hurting Egyptians now. Reforms across other sectors—such as in healthcare—have also garnered the same criticisms.

While economists and education experts weigh the pros and cons of reforms, what is true now is that quality education has become out of reach for many Egyptians.

Another factor hurting Egypt's education system is the drop in the number of teachers. With the government reigning in spending on public education, teachers' salaries have been cut in half, creating little incentive for Egyptians to take up these jobs. According to a 2022-2023 World Bank report, the number of teachers in Egypt is only around 1 million, which is nowhere near enough to accommodate the country's massive student population—from nursery level all the way to university.

AFP — Egyptian students dance at the British International School in Cairo, June 12, 2013

Astronomical costs

Parents who can afford it are increasingly forking out money for private lessons for their children and sending them to specialised centres to compensate for the country's deteriorating education system. Reda Hegazy, Egypt’s former Minister of Education and Technical Education, said Egyptians spend around 47bn pounds ($960mn) annually on private lessons.

Tuition fees for international schools can range from $2,500 to $5,000 annually, which is very high by Egyptian standards. For their part, private universities charge anywhere from $2,650 to $16,325 (130,000 to 800,000 Egyptian pounds) a year. Medical school at private universities ranges between $4,000 and $5,100, while pharmacy and dentistry school runs from $2,650 to $3,675. Meanwhile, American University in Cairo fees are now up to $16,300 or 800,000 pounds.

According to a report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egyptians spend more than $2.77bn annually on private lessons.

In a bid to offset these costs, the government has announced an increase of $816mn in the budget for higher and university education, bringing the total to $4bn in the 2023/2024 budget. According to CAPMAS, public spending on education has reached about $28.8bn over the past ten years. The government also plans to add about 105,000 classrooms by 2030, bringing the total number of new classrooms to 225,000 during the same period.

The steep rise in education costs is due to the floating exchange rate and the pound's depreciation against the dollar

Lack of strategy

But this is not expected to fix things. The key problem is the lack of a clear and comprehensive strategy for education in Egypt. The country's current education system does not really equip students for the future job market—particularly in the field of technology.

Like the rest of the country's economy, Egypt's agreement with the International Monetary Fund requires it to undergo reforms, which has affected the education sector. That led the government to make decisions that place additional strain on the Egyptian public, increasing the prices of fuel, energy, water, and services. The steep rise in education costs is a result of the floating exchange rate and the depreciation of the pound against the dollar.

Tens of thousands of students are forced to move from private to public schools due to financial constraints, so Egyptian banks have introduced new types of loans specifically for private university tuition. But this funding model, imported from the United States and Europe, isn't well-suited to Egypt's income levels.

For example, Margo Adel moved her two children from private to public school, with tuition capped at $100 per year, after realising that private institutions had become "purely profit-driven ventures." Another mother, Martha Fathy, agrees and says the government should regulate the price hikes at private schools.

And tuition at international universities has nearly doubled in some cases, making them mostly out of reach for most Egyptians, especially because some deal only in foreign currency.

Despite Egypt's mushrooming population, the state has not established any new universities since the 1990s. Instead, it encouraged businesspeople to set up private institutions. Egypt now has 25 private universities, which is almost matching the number of public universities, which stands at 28. The majority of these were established only in the past 30 years.

+ / -