Education in numbers

According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics:

• 16% of children are enrolled in pre-primary school
• 92% of girls are enrolled in primary school
• 95% of boys are enrolled in primary school
• 95% of children complete primary school
• 12.6% of government spending goes to education
• 66.4% of adults and 84.9% of youth are literate

History of Education

Education in Egypt began with religious and spiritual education that took place in mosques or in a “madrasa” as it was taught in seminaries and monasteries in Christian Europe. The main schools during this time were Al-Azhar and the “Khuttab” schools for learning the Qur’an. Al Azhar focused on Arabic grammar and poetry, logic and rhetoric. After completing this, the student could choose to continue education at Al Azhar as an intern and study “hadith”, the narratives and actions of the Prophet and his companions), the meaning of the Qur’an and Islamic law and ethics.
In 1818, Mohamed Ali founded a school where the princes and children of court members were educated. He realized that women should also be educated and had foreign women teachers come teach the daughters of the royal family and the daughters of members of the court.  In 1836, Mohamed Ali proposed establishing a school for girls. He was afraid of opposition from the ignorant and founded a school for midwives instead. As people realized that graduating from Mohamed Ali’s schools would give them a better position in society and give them employment and wealth, the demand for education increased.

Credit: Al-Ahram Weekly

Unanswered questions

• What are the people who are living on less than $2 per day feeling? Do they have hope?
• Were the southern areas always the poorest?
• How was Egypt’s economy before Mubarak was in power?
• Where in the South are the poverty hot spots?
• How has education in Egypt changed throughout history?
• Is the government helping with poverty and education? What is the scope of that help?
• Are there formal studies or projections that address the future of the poverty issue or the education issue? What are the informal opinions of both observers and actors on the scene? how do the latter see their own futures?

Songs for Egypt

Egyptian Education Initiative

The Egyptian Education Initiative (EEI) was started in May 2006. Since it was started, the EEI has delivered 39,000 computers to 2,000 schools, connected 900 schools to the internet and installed learning labs in all universities.

Egypt through a foreigner’s eyes

Here is the blog of a Canadian woman who is living in Egypt. She challenges the stereotype of Egypt that is shown in the media and tells her story of living there through her blog.

Moving out

“Al Ibrahimiya al Thanawiya” is a school for outstanding students with exceptional grades. It is like the Ivy League of Egypt. Egyptian political scientist and professor at the University of Michigan, Moataz Abdelfattah, attended this school. His class consisted of 35 students. Today, only four of the thirty five  remain in Egypt, the other thirty one emigrated to other countries. If the “great minds” of Egypt leave and take their skills and brains to benefit other countries, then how can Egypt thrive and prosper? If these educated and successful Egyptians stayed in Egypt would it help?

Source: “El Beet Betak”