Education is a powerful driver of development, and one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability. Children’s education can help families live a better future. The ability to read is fundamental for further learning as well as for productivity and health later in life.
The modern job market also requires equipping today’s students with skill sets that drastically differ from what traditional education systems have been offering for years. Which is why Egypt is putting education reform amongst its top development priorities.
In 2018, the Egyptian government launched a national education reform program which is being supported by the World Bank, and several milestones have been already achieved, with more to come.
A new examination system is one key element of the ongoing reform, which shifts students’ attention from rote learning and grades to higher-order skills including the students’ analytical skills, critical thinking skills, as well as inquisitive and exploration abilities. This shift encourages students to learn for life- not just for examinations - by teaching them the broad range of self-learning skills that are likely to be relevant to their job search in a more global market in the 2030s.
“The new examination system encourages me to depend on myself in my learning journey, it also encourages me to read more. My father is ill, sometimes my biology readings enable me to help him,” a secondary one student proudly said. “When I am a mother, I will also encourage my children to read,” she added.
The World Bank’s Supporting Egypt’s Education Reform project aims to support the country’s efforts through improving access to and the quality of kindergarten, developing a fair and reliable student assessment and examination system, enhancing the capacity of teachers and education leaders, and using education technology for improved teaching and learning, assessing students, and collecting data, as well as expanding the use of alternative learning resources.
To date, the project has supported the development of new training modules that will be rolled out to 70% of kindergarten teachers between April and September 2024, this is in addition to the development of a new quality assurance system that will initially be rolled in 35% of kindergarten; both will reflect on improved child learning and readiness for school. The new examinations system that is driven by higher-order thinking skills has been administered to three cohorts of secondary school students (over 2 million students). Curated learning resources (digital and education television channels) have benefited students and parents, and teachers since 2020. The project has also supported the administration of two rounds of grade 4 assessment with focus on Arabic and mathematics to assess learning and address challenges.
As expected with a reform of such magnitude, there are several challenges that need to be addressed to secure effective implementation, first of which is a shift of perception amongst the teachers, students, and parents. The new education system’s approach prepares and equips students with the set of skills to succeed in the future workplace. Meanwhile, the new system contradicts - in many ways - the long withstanding beliefs of students and parents that the main purpose of education is memorizing content and scoring in exams.
“My mother is worried that I will not get high grades in preparatory 3,” said a preparatory 1 student. “She tries to hide it, but I can feel her worry,” he added.
Focusing on getting high grades through memorizing information also puts stress on the students themselves, often causing them to neglect recreational time that is necessary for their healthy development and wellbeing. “I used to practice swimming, I should have been participating in a tournament right now and I was even eligible for a medal,” said a secondary student. “I decided to stop swimming practice to be able to focus on my studies. My cousin took the same decision,” she added.
The cost of private tutoring and the implication that some students are absent from school because of attending tutoring is also a challenge.
In addition to the long withstanding perceptions, there are other elements that challenge the education system, including low enrollment in kindergarten, professional development for teachers and education leaders, as well as a short school year (120 in Egypt versus 190 in Scotland). There is also a need for increased and better spending on education for more schools and more teachers given the overcrowding in schools and the shortage of teachers due to the cap on public servants’ recruitment.
Despite the challenges in implementing the reform, students see merit to the change. “What makes me different from secondary students who undertook exams under the old system is that I have better access to digital resources, and which increases my chances to get a good job,” said a secondary student, his colleague agreed and added that the new examination system and digital resources enhances their critical thinking skills and their abilities to deal with challenges.
This support of the reform of the country’s education system is in line with the World Bank’s FY2023-27 Country Partnership Framework with Egypt, which puts focus on improved human capital outcomes, including provision of education that resonates with the needs of the future job market.
