Privatization of education – a chance for the elite to qualify for
the modern labour market
Up to the 1970s more than 97 per cent of schools in Egypt were in the
public sector. Since then, however, the private educational sector has experi-
enced a boom. The reasons are varied:
• After the era of Nasser’s socialism had come to an end and private invest-
ment was encouraged by the state, fear of the nationalization of private
schools, such as had already been experienced by some famous institutions
like the English Mission School in Cairo and St Mark’s College in Alexan-
dria, was no longer a factor.
• Since Egypt’s defeat in the war against Israel in 1967 the country’s economic
situation has deteriorated. The adverse effects of this were felt most severely
in the public service sector, especially in education and healthcare.
• The oil boom in some of the Arab countries since the 1960s has caused a
severe economic imbalance in the MENA region and triggered an influx of
thousands of well-qualified teachers from Egypt. This has led to a further
deterioration in Egypt’s public school education where good teachers are
lacking.
• To increase their income the remaining teachers depended on giving private
lessons to their pupils in their own homes, neglecting their official work at
school. Today, parents who want to make sure that their children succeed
in their school careers have to pay so much for private lessons that it has
become economically more appropriate for them to send their children to
private schools, where they are better taken care of.