Education In Egypt

Discuss education in Egypt: Explain the main features of Egyptian education and contrast with the U.S education

The modern educational system in Egypt was introduced in the early 1880s by Ottoman Pasha Muhammad Ali. During that time he started what was referred as the dual system of education which included the kuttab which was the Islamic traditional school and the other was the Madrasa and this was meant for the elite civil servant. Egyptian education has experienced a rapid growth since 1990s and it’s the largest overall in both the Middle East and the North Africa. Recently, Egyptian government has set good measures in place towards improving the education system. According to the Human Development Index (HDI) given by education analysts, Egypt hold position 123 in the HDI and position 7 in the lowest 10 HDI in northern Africa and Middle East countries. Egypt is aiming to set up good structure in the education system that will provide access to the early childhood education and introduce the ICT that will be used at all levels especially the tertiary. The government of Egypt is offering free education at all levels where its expenditure on education is around 12.6% of the total GDP as of 2007

There are three levels in the Egyptian public education system. The first or the basic level is attended by children between the ages of the 4-14. This consists of the kindergarten which is attended for two years which is followed by the primary school education which takes six years and lastly the preparatory school that takes three years.  The next stage is the secondary school education for three years and the last stage is the tertiary which is the highest level of education in Egypt is. For the first nine academic years education is compulsory for every child between the ages of 6 and 14. Examinations are held at every level which is meant to promote one in the next level apart from the grades 3, 6 and 9 at basic level and also grade 11 and 12 at the secondary stage, there is examinations or any other form of evaluations that is held in these grades. Exams include the standardized regional and the national exam. The ministry of education has been mandated with the responsibility for making all the decision concerning the education system and is supported by the three centers; these are National Centre for Examinations and Educational Evaluation processes, the National centre for the Curricula Development and the National Centre for the Education Research.

There is a great different between the education in Egypt and US. In US, the educational system is much more advanced as compared to Egypt. Unlike Egypt where there are three levels of public educational system, the US educational system has four levels, children starts at pre-kindergarten, then they move on to kindergarten or first grade. From there they spent 12 calendar years in both primary and secondary school where they graduate with a diploma. The Diploma enables them to enroll in a higher education institution where they study to earn a degree. Due to technological advancement in US, the rate of education growth is much higher compared to Egypt. The US government is emphasizing so much on education growth by providing the right resources so that it can support the growing economy. In US the formal language that is used for teaching in all the levels of education is English while in Egypt is Arabic. Most of the students in Egyptian schools are Muslim while in US the majority is Christian students.