Free education—promised in the Egyptian constitution—is considered a fundamental right
of every Egyptian. Over the past three decades, Egypt has made substantial progress in
increasing access to education and raising educational attainment. Gross enrollment
rates in primary education have increased from 67 percent in 1980 to 112 percent in
2010 (World Bank 2014). At the same time the average years of schooling went from 2.7
to 7.1, putting Egypt among the top 20 countries globally in terms of increases in school
attainment over that period (Campante and Chor 2012). The focus in Egypt, as in many
countries and in the international discourse on access to education, has essentially been
on increasing enrollments and attainment, often to the neglect of other important
dimensions of education. There has been, until recently, insufficient concern about the
demonstrably low school quality and low levels of learning students are achieving
(Assaad 2014; Salehi-Isfahani, Hassine, and Assaad 2014; World Bank 2008). There has
also been limited societal debate about the substantial inefficiencies and inequities
associated with public expenditure on education (El-Baradei 2013). These issues mean
that while education is theoretically free, substantial additional spending is often required
by families to ensure that children learn and succeed within the education system. The
need for additional spending contributes to young people‘s unequal opportunities to
attain education or achieve learning (Assaad, Salehi-Isfahani, and Hendy 2014; Assaad
2013; El-Baradei 2013; Salehi-Isfahani, Hassine, and Assaad 2014; World Bank 2012).
The problems of low quality, inefficiencies and unequal opportunities start within
the basic education system. In part because public funding of basic education is
inadequate (El-Baradei 2013), the quality of basic education is low. Egypt was one of the
lowest ranked countries in the 2014-2015 World Competitiveness Report (141
st out of
144 countries) in terms of the quality of primary education (Schwab 2014).
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In part
because the quality of education is low, investments in education may generate low
returns. Annualized wage returns to basic education are estimated to be just 1 percent
per year of education (Said 2015). The returns to basic education in Egypt are less than
one-twenty-fifth the international average of 26.6 percent per year of primary education
(Psacharopoulos and Patrinos 2004). If only returns in the private sector are taken into
account, returns are even worse, less than 1 percent per year (0.1 percent per year for
males and 0.4 percent per year for females). While returns to all levels of education are
relatively low in Egypt compared to other countries, basic education in Egypt has lower
returns than secondary or higher education (Said 2015).
When the quality of education in public schools is poor, families who can afford it
must often use other means to help their children succeed in school. In Egypt, the poor
quality of public basic education has generated substantial demand for educational
supplements, such as private schooling, parental help, help groups, and especially
private tutoring. Spending on basic education, and particularly on private tutoring is a
substantial and rising share of the budgets of Egyptian households with school-age
children (El-Baradei 2013). Given the low quality of free public education, this
supplemental private spending may be a critical element for succeeding in school, for
those who can afford it.
This paper examines whether free basic education is a reality or a myth in Egypt.
The discussion begins with an examination of equity in access to, success in, and
completion of basic education. The paper then investigates the costs of basic education,
which is in theory free, in terms of use of, and spending on, education supplements such
as private schooling and private tutoring or help groups, as well as the provision of study
help by family members. Two key outcomes of basic education are also explored: the
performance of students on tests during basic education, and their ability to pursue the
general secondary track (higher education bound), as opposed to poorly regarded
vocational track after basic education. The differences in education experiences and outcomes by gender, socio-economic status, and place of residence are explored to
illustrate how the need to supplement publicly provided basic education contributes to
unequal opportunities for young Egyptians.