Egyptian constitution in article 51 stipulates that: “primary education shall be compulsory and free of charge in all State schools” with about 56,569 Schools (2020) as per the ministry of education statics trying to serve this purpose to educate 23,567,060 students. On the other hand, Egypt has about 9000 private schools serving around 2.5 million students. Public education is widely considered to be lacking in Egypt, but other options come at a price that is too high for many. Private education, which can cost up to $26,000 per year, is simply not an option for the majority of young Egyptians. Families who cannot afford to enroll their children in private schools (or families seeking to give their privately educated children an extra edge) rely on outside tutoring; according to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, over 40 percent of families’ education spending goes to private tutoring. This confirms the gap and mismatch between the skills that public school students try to fulfill by private tutoring but still it was not enough as it only focuses on passing the academic portion of education. This gap between public and private education has affected its graduates in finding proper employment, social community as well as mobility.
Challenges facing the public education system indicate that the youth unemployment crisis in Egypt is not due solely to a lack of job opportunities; there is a gap between what students learn in schools and the skills required for the workplace that prevents employers from filling existing openings. Global rankings reflect the failure of Egyptian education to prepare students for future jobs. In the World Economic Forum’s 2018-2019 Global Competitiveness Report, Egypt placed 133rd out of 141 countries in terms of the skill sets of graduates. The 2019 Global Talent Competitiveness Index ranked Egypt 120th out of 125 countries in terms of relevance of the educational system to the economy, and 101st in terms of ease of finding skilled employees. Despite high unemployment, thousands of skilled positions in Egypt are left unfilled. This leads to high youth dissatisfaction with education system that leads to unemployment. The Arab Barometer survey highlighted that 20 percent of youth aged 18-35 reported being unemployed due to lack of skills. In 2017, the International Labour Organization found that unemployment among those aged 15-24 in Egypt was 29.6 percent. Comparing this with private school graduates, the numbers and statistics are much less in terms of unemployment rates among private schools’ graduates. The same survey showed at least 70% less rate in unemployment among those who have graduated from private schools and surprisingly mentioning that it can be due to better second language skills. Having those remarks highlighted, Egypt should focus on fulfilling this gap and skill mismatch to reduce the unemployment rates among public school graduates.
Public and private education mostly reflect on your social community and it sometimes defines your social network as well. As stated in the European Training Foundation, your peers are your future job network. Social class has always had a strong impact on education: on both the kind and the quality of education one receives and vice versa. Consequently, it affects the kind of future professional career one could aspire to have. In fact, one can go as far as arguing that social class has always been a determining factor in the kind of educational experience one is to establish. This highlights the interconnectivity between the socio-economic class and the kind of education one received and the kind of professional society the graduate encounter upon college graduation.
A recurring example of such direct link between type of education and social community, usually graduates of private schools are hired by the peer parents’ businesses as a sort of quick social connection to employment. Amir, a friend of mine, has been hired by our friend’s father who has an IT company because he is a friend of his son who studied at the same private school. The gap in social community are related to one’s education in Egypt and it can even define your future social network and community. This social network can be also considered a skill that a graduate gain from being in a private school.
In addition to the skill mismatch and gap that is between public and private education, graduates are not only affected by employability opportunities and social network, it also affects their mobility to other countries. Since 2008, the number of Egyptian degree-seeking students pursuing their education abroad has nearly tripled, from 12,331 to 31,822 students in 2017, according to the UIS and the majority are from private schools. In terms of total numbers, Egypt is now the fourth-largest sending country of international students in the Arab world after Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Syria. However, Egypt’ ministry of education announced that it has tremendous long-term potential for further growth in outbound student mobility. While most of private students have the required academic and interpersonal skills to go and move (study/work) abroad, the public students have more restrictive opportunities in terms of requirement and financial obligations. On the other hand, the country new strategy focusing on encouraging the establishment of more international branch campuses in Egypt that may help absorb some of the demand, other students will likely head abroad for better education and employment opportunities. This mobility opportunity is a unique outcome of studying in private schools in contrary of public ones.
The latest Arab Barometer survey reflects that Egyptian youth are unhappy with the lack of benefits accrued by pursuing public education and the huge gap in skills compared to the graduates of private schools. It’s no secret that public education in Egypt faces many challenges. Although satisfaction with the public education system is lower among those who are unemployed, positive feelings toward the system expected changes. In a nutshell, the skill mismatch and gap between the public and private education reflects on several aspects such as employment, social community and mobility of its graduates. Several efforts should be exerted on both public and private entities to ensure that this gap is fulfilled, else it can be one of main challenges for the country as a whole.
References
https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/81925/Number-of-schools-students-rise-in-five-years (schools)
Arab Barometer survey
UIS