Education in Egypt
The Ministry of Education is also tackling a number of issues: trying to move from a highly centralized system to offering more autonomy to individual institutions, thereby increasing accountability.
During 2008 design was carried out, three pilot governorates (Faiyum, Ismailia, and Luxor) were chosen, and monitoring and capacity building processes and manuals were agreed upon.
As of late 2009, the pilot showed few if any problems, and the expected results were materializing quite well, in terms of stimulating community participation, allowing schools to spend more efficiently and assess their own priorities, and increasing the seriousness of school-based planning by creating a means to finance such plans, among other expected results.
An informal assessment of the pilot revealed that the funding formula money precipitated an increase in the community donations.
Within the education sector, as of late 2009 plans are being made to decentralize certain lines of funding and planning for capital equipment and infrastructure, in all governorates, all the way to school level in the case of smaller units of capital equipment, or levels higher than the school for items such as new infrastructure.
The education sector does expect to continue to use the original 3 pilot governorates as a special observatory to assess and understand how well the process is proceeding.
They recorded the ancient Egyptian language using hieroglyphs, and during their reign, "Bar Ankh," or the House of Life, was established as the first school and library in the history of humanity.
The Mansouri taught students the basics of reading and writing throughout memorizing and reciting Qur'anic verses with no emphasis on experimentation, problem-solving or learning-by-doing; while the Madrasa offered a more modern educational pedagogical.
In Egypt, Cromer reduced the budget for education, closed many of the specialized postsecondary institutions, and refocused the curriculum on vocational topics.
More recently, the Egyptian government has introduced Applied Technology Schools as part of its efforts to enhance technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
Notably, in 2006, the Industrial Training Council (ITC) was established via ministerial decree, tasked with improving coordination and oversight of all training-related entities, projects, and policies within the Ministry.
The graduates of this system are then automatically accepted into Al-Azhar University.In 2007, the Pre-University enrollment in Al- Azhar institutes is about 1,906,290 students.
The examination system at the end of preparatory and secondary levels—Thanaweyya Amma, does not measure higher-order thinking skills, but concentrates rather on rote memorization.
[28] The Egyptian tertiary education is steered by a centralized system with institutions having little control on the decisions of the curriculum, program development and deployment of staff and faculty.
This means that significant efficiencies will need to be introduced into the system just to maintain quality at its current inadequate level.
The performance and quality of higher education is currently severely compromised by overly centralized order to improve the already outdated system, rigid curriculum and teaching practices.
This means that significant efficiencies will need to be introduced into the system just to maintain quality at its current inadequate level.
[29] The Government of Egypt recognizes that there are real challenges to be faced in the sector, foremost amongst which are the need to significantly improve sector governance and efficiency, increase institutional autonomy, significantly improve the quality and relevance of higher education programs, and maintain coverage at existing levels.
Recent Government actions to build political consensus on issues critical to reform have created a climate that is ripe for change.
A range of multilateral and bilateral agencies, including the World Bank, also concur with the Declaration's proposals, and are committed to supporting various aspects of the reform process.
In August 2004, HEEP strategic priorities were adjusted to become responsive to the requirements of quality and accreditation and to correspond to the government's approach to improving scientific research.
The adjustment added two more dimensions: first, developing post graduate studies and scientific research and second, addressing students’ extra-curricular activities in addition to the continued implementation of the six prioritized programs during the first phase.
A Students’ Activity Project (SAP) was also initiated as part of program accreditation similar to scientific research and post graduate studies.
Farming plots are provided to schools and to offer job opportunities to graduates at institutions affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Due to lack of good quality education at the basic and secondary levels, there has been a mushrooming market for private tutoring.
According to the Egypt Human Development Report (2005), 58 percent of surveyed families stated that their children take private tutoring.
The CAPMAS (2004) survey showed that households spend on average around 61 percent of total education expenditure on private tutoring.
Youth unemployment is also very high, primarily due to lack of education system in providing necessary training under TVET programs.
An ethnography study conducted by Sarah Hartmann in 2008 concluded that most teachers in Egypt resort to teaching for lack of better options and because the nature of the job does not conflict with their more important gender role as mothers.
A study conducted in 1989 documenting the bureaucracy of the Egyptian Ministry of Education concluded that teachers' annual salary in Egypt is, on average, $360.
