N.B: Please be aware that most resources and sources are in Arabic.
Overview of the Country

Background:

  • Official name: Arab Republic of Egypt 1
  • Capital: Cairo 1
  • Location: Northern Africa 1
  • Official language: Arabic 1
  • Population: 106,884,353 (2024) 2
  • Gross domestic product (GDP): US$ 395.93 Billion (2023) 3
  • Gross national income (GNI) per capita, PPP (current international $): 17,990 (2023) 4

Membership of Regional Economic Communities (RECs):

Additional Resources:

Sources:

  1. The Arab Republic of Egypt Presidency
  2. Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS)
  3. World Bank - GDP
  4. World Bank - GNI

Critical Sector Strategic Priorities in Education include: 1

  • Access and Participation
  • Quality of Learning and Teaching
  • Equity and Inclusion
  • Governance and Management

Two transversal priority levers include digital transformation and a strong teacher workforce

The approach is to operationalize these priorities across the seven components.

In pre-primary:

  • expand kindergarten provision,  
  • increase availability of adequate classroom facilities,  
  • improve the physical condition of existing kindergarten educational centres. 

In basic education:

  • improve foundational learning for all and equitable access to and successful completion of primary and preparatory education for all,  
  • Address the causes of dropout, with particular attention to excluded and marginalized groups, to reduce disparities based on gender, disability, and geographical location.  

In secondary education:

  • Expand equitable access to and participation in both general and technical education,
  • Offer competency-based, relevant curriculum,
  • Ensure sufficient availability of schools, classrooms, and teachers to accommodate qualified graduates from basic education.

In community education sub-sectors:

  • Reduce early school leaving by identifying and addressing the causes,
  • Direct out-of-school children to appropriate learning streams,
  • Offer flexible learning opportunities.

In adult literacy programmes:

  • Increase government funding and development partner support for adult and non-formal education,
  • Expand access to and improve the quality of centres and facilities, particularly literacy programmes.

In sector-wide governance and management:

  • Put in place an effective management and administration system,
  • Ensure accountability, transparent and efficient governance,
  • Implement sustainable, equitable financing modalities,
  • Enable system strengthening and mobility through agile partnerships and multiple pathways within and across education subsectors.

In digital transformation and innovation reforms:

  • Transform the educational ecosystem with fully integrated digital components,
  • Support fluid management of the system and hybrid/blended learning,
  • Provide schools with high-speed internet, equipment, digital content and materials, IT specialists, training, and teaching and administrative resources. 

Policy and Strategy References

Education Sector Plan:

Related strategic documents:

Strategic Plan for Pre-university Education

National Commitment Statement:

Early Childhood Education Policy:

National Teacher’s Standards:

The National Credit and Qualifications Framework:

Higher Education Accreditation body:

National inclusive policy:

Gender Policy:

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) policy:

Youth policy:

ICT Country Profile:

Resilience plan:

Climate Change Education and Communication:

Private sector - Non-State actors in Education:

Sexuality education:

  •  

Education Scenario for 2043:

Additional Resources:

Sources:

  1. The Arab Republic of Egypt, Ministry of Education and Technical Education. (2023). Education Sector plan (ESP) 2023-2027

Governance Structure for Education: 

Education System Structure: 1

  • Pre-primary Education: Two years of kindergarten (ages 4-5)
  • Primary Education: Six years of education (ages 6-11).
  • Preparatory Education: Three years of education (ages 12-14)
  • Secondary Education: This stage includes three main options:
    • General Secondary (3 years, ages 15-17)
    • Technical Secondary (up to 5 years)
    • Vocational Education

Additional Resources:

Sources:

  1. The Arab Republic of Egypt, Ministry of Education and Technical Education. (2023). Education Sector plan (ESP) 2023-2027

School age population (2023): 1

  • Pre-primary: 5 006 971
  • Primary: 15 305 620
  • Lower secondary: 6 607 994
  • Upper secondary: 6 065 957 

Gross enrolment ratio (2023): 1

  • Pre-primary: No data found
  • Primary: 90.31% (2023)
  • Lower Secondary: 95.80% (2021)
  • Upper secondary: 72.12% (2023) 

Completion rates: 2

  • Primary: 93.69%
  • Lower Secondary: 84.06%
  • Upper Secondary: 76.06%

Out-of-School rate (2019): 2

  • Primary school age: 0.46%
  • Lower secondary school age: 5.14%
  • Upper secondary school age: 5.14%

Additional Resources:

Sources:

  1. UIS Data
  2. UIS SDG4 Data

Proportion of children and young people achieving at least a minimum proficiency level by sex: 1

Reading:

  • In grades 2/3: No data found
  • At the end of primary: 44.57% (2021)
  • At the end of lower secondary: No data found

Mathematics:

  • In grades 2/3: No data found
  • At the end of primary:  No data found
  • At the end of lower secondary: 26.84% (2019)

Learning achievement in reading (Early grades): 2

  • Low proficiency, PIRLS, 2021 (Overall average): 45%
  • Medium proficiency, PIRLS, 2021 (Overall average): 19%
  • High proficiency, PIRLS, 2021 (Overall average): 5%

Learning achievement in mathematics (End of lower secondary): 2

  • Low proficiency, TIMSS, 2019 (Overall average): 55%
  • Minimum proficiency, TIMSS, 2019 (Overall average): 27%  
  • Medium proficiency, TIMSS, 2019 (Overall average): 7%
  • High proficiency, TIMSS, 2019 (Overall average): 1%

Learning achievement in science (End of lower secondary): 2

  • Low proficiency, TIMSS, 2019 (Overall average): 49%
  • Minimum proficiency, TIMSS, 2019 (Overall average): 24%
  • Medium proficiency, TIMSS, 2019 (Overall average): 6%
  • High proficiency, TIMSS, 2019 (Overall average): 1%

Additional Resources:

Sources:

  1. UIS
  2. The World Inequality Database on Education (WIDE) for Egypt

Percentage of teachers qualified according to the national standards (2021): 1

  • Pre-primary: 80.93%
  • Primary school: 86.90%
  • Lower secondary: 85.78%
  • Upper secondary: 83.29%

Percentage of teachers trained according to the national standards: 1

  • Pre-primary: No data found
  • Primary school: No data found
  • Lower secondary: No data found
  • Upper secondary: No data found

Additional Resources:

Sources:

  1. UIS

Total number of schools: 38,052 1

  • Basic education: 33570
  • Secondary General: 4,482

Proportion of schools with access to basic services / Electricity 2

  • Primary Education: 100% (2016)
  • Lower Secondary Education: 85.70% (2021)
  • Upper Secondary Education: 75.13% (2021)

School infrastructure and facilities / Single‐sex basic sanitation facilities: 2

  • Primary Education: 100% (2016)
  • Lower Secondary Education: 82.00% (2021)
  • Upper Secondary Education:  65.37% (2021)  

 

Additional Resources:

Sources: 

  1. Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS)
  2. UIS

Participation rate of youth and adults in formal and non-formal education and training in the previous 12 months (15-64 years old) (2022):  1

  • Both sexes: 16.59%
  • Male: 17.79%
  • Female: 15.32%

Participation rate of youth and adults in formal and non-formal education and training in the previous 12 months (15-24 years old) (2022):  1

  • Both sexes: 57.10%
  • Male: 57.68% 
  • Female: 56.42%

Proportion of 15- to 24-year-olds enrolled in vocational education (2021): 1

  • Both sexes: 11.49%
  • Male: 13.33%
  • Female: 9.56%

Share of youth not in employment, education or training (NEET) (2022): 2

  • Both sexes: 26.9%
  • Male: 15.8%
  • Female: 40.1%

Number of people 15-35 years old: 3

  • Total: 36,144, 607 (2024)
  • Employed: 11,732,539 people (32.5%)
  • Unemployed: 1,181,929 people (3.3%)
  • Inactive: 9,787,960 people (27.1%)
  • Student: 13,442,179 people (37.2%)

Additional Resources:

Sources:

  1. UIS
  2. ILO
  3. Africa Youth Employment Clock
  4. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

Gross enrolment ratio for tertiary education: 1

  • Both sexes: 39.38%
  • Male: 39.30%
  • Female: 39.47%

Total number of Higher Education institutions 105: 2

  • Public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): 27
  • Private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): 78

Additional Resources:

Sources:

  1. UIS
  2. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

Gender Parity Index (GPI) Gross enrolment ratio (2022): 1

  • Primary: 1.01 (2023)
  • Lower secondary: 0.98 (2021)
  • Upper secondary: 0.95 (2023)

Adjusted Gender Parity Index (GPIA) Gross enrolment ratio (2022): 2

  • Tertiary: 1.00

Proportion of schools with adapted infrastructure and materials for students with disabilities (2021): 2

  • Primary: No data found
  • Lower secondary: No data found
  • Upper secondary: No data found

Additional Resources:

Sources:

  1. UIS
  2. UIS SDG4 Data

Expenditure on education: 1

  • Government expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP: 3.93% (2015)
  • Expenditure on education as a percentage of total government expenditure: 12.00% (2015)

Additional Resources: 

Sources: 

  1. UIS SDG4 Data 

Literacy rate by age group: (2022) 1

  • 15+ years: 74.50%
  • 15-24 years: 92.72%
  • 25-64 years: 72.02%
  • 65+ years: 34.98%

Literacy rate by sex: (2022) 1

  • Both sexes: 80.38% (2020)
  • Males: 84.49% (2020)
  • Females: 76.19% (2020)

Additional Resources: 

Sources:

  1. UIS SDG4 Data

Proportion of schools with access to internet for pedagogical purposes: 1

  • Lower secondary: 91.04% (2019)
  • Upper secondary: 58.63% (2021)

Proportion of secondary schools with access to computers for pedagogical purposes (2018): 1

Sources:

  1. UIS SDG4 Data

Total:

  • Refugees and asylum seekers: 760,581 1
  • Internally Displaced Persons due to conflict or natural disasters: No data found

Sources:

  1. UNHCR Operational Data Portal – UNHCR