In October, Goldman Sachs forecast that Egypt’s economy would become one of the 10 largest in the world by 2075, reaching $10.4 trillion. By the end of 2025, Egypt ranked 38th globally, with a near-$400 billion economy.
To achieve this forecast, the government needs to prepare tomorrow’s workforce for whatever comes next, whether it’s emerging technologies, shifting work trends, or unforeseen developments. That starts with accelerating fundamental reforms to Egypt’s education system. Such changes should reflect Gen Alpha’s (aged 1 to 15 in 2025) rapidly changing, technology-dominated reality.
In May, AmCham Egypt’s first Education Conference highlighted the Ministry of Education’s plans to transform Egypt’s schools from a knowledge-based to a skills-based model, as well as the challenges facing the implementation of this vision.
Vision
Mohamed Abdel Latif, minister of education and technical education (MoETE), told conference attendees his policy priorities are “a simple proposition. Egypt’s most strategic infrastructure is not concrete or steel; it is human capital.”
Developing a future-ready talent pool requires revisiting education’s core goals. “In a world defined by rapid technological acceleration, artificial intelligence, and global competition for talent, the true driver of economic strength is no longer access to resources, but access to skills,” Abdel Latif stressed. “Every nation today faces the same question: Can its education system produce graduates who are adaptable, productive, and globally competitive?”
For Egypt, that means modifying the education system for the “more than 1 million people … entering the labor market … every year,” Abdel Latif noted. “Their readiness will determine our growth trajectory, their employability will determine our competitiveness, and their confidence will determine our stability.”
The ministry’s overarching strategy is to “redesign the relationship between education and the economy … as investment in education is not simply a social obligation, [but] an economic strategy,” he said.
Accordingly, the ministry is “shifting from a system measured by certification to one measured by capability, and from a model where students prepare for exams to one where they prepare for work, innovation and entrepreneurship,” Abdel Latif explained.
The MoETE has a separate development plan to reposition technical and vocational training within Egypt’s school system. “It is no longer an alternative track, but a primary driver of productivity and competitiveness,” he said. Skill sets these schools will teach will be “certified, transferable, and responsive to change.”
Digital literacy is at the core of both academic and vocational reforms and updates. According to Abdel Latif, the new system will “integrate … the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and entrepreneurial thinking into learning pathways, so students don’t merely consume technology, but build it, shape it and lead with it.”
That strategy will also include reforming educational institutions, upskilling teachers, and developing a future-compatible governance system. That will require “strengthening standards, accreditation, and performance measurement,” Abdel Latif said. “We are building a culture of accountability and continuous improvement, and using data not just to report progress, but to inform decisions.”
The third part of the ministry’s vision is to ensure “the private sector is not just an observer in this transformation,” he said. “Industry must help shape curricula, companies must open pathways for internships, investors must recognize education as long-term infrastructure and employers must clearly signal the competencies they value.”
Vision to implementation
Translating goals into the real world is often not straightforward. “There remains a significant gap between vision and implementation,” Hossam Badrawi, chairman of the Badrawi Foundation for Education and Development, a non-profit NGO, told conference attendees.
To ensure alignment, there must be “policy initiatives, plans, key performance indicators, budgeting and continuous follow-up,” Badrawi stressed. “This is what I am currently working on with the ministers of education and higher education.”
These indicators need to tackle measurable and non-measurable dimensions. The first is students’ personality. “Education nurtures curiosity, encourages exploration, develops critical thinking, strengthens communication, promotes cooperation, and builds respect for diversity,” said Badrawi.
The second is students’ knowledge, including core academic subjects such as science, mathematics, literature and the arts, he stressed. The third is subjects that “instill responsibility, a sense of belonging and respect for a broader human community.”
Another imperative of a successful education system overhaul is that it be “accessible to all without discrimination, delivered at high quality within an efficient, fair, sustainable, and flexible institutional system,” Badrawi stressed.
Ultimately, successful reforms require that “what is being implemented today must be sustainable. We should not return to square one with every change of government,” he said. “We must build upon achievements … not consider current efforts as a final result, but as one step forward … this is how nations progress.”
Private sector
Badrawi emphasized the importance of involving the private sector in public education alongside the government: “A strong public education system is not the enemy of the free market; it is its foundation.”
Furthermore, there is strong demand for quality education. “The widespread reliance on private tutoring … demonstrates that families care deeply about education. Many are spending 20% to 30% of their income on tutoring, showing their willingness to invest in their children’s futures,” said Badrawi.
One wrinkle in attracting the private sector to education is that its benefits can be difficult to quantify. “The return on education does not appear only in financial statements,” said Badrawi. “It is reflected in productivity, innovation, social stability, reduced violence and a higher quality of life.”
Accordingly, the government needs to develop an investment model that balances the private sector’s need to make a profit with education’s social mandate to be accessible to everyone. “I strongly believe in … investment, competition and private initiative, while recognizing that certain fundamental rights must never become mere commodities,” he said. “Education is at the top of those rights.”
If the private sector doesn’t contribute to education, it risks jeopardizing its operations. “Companies search for skilled technical and professional talent, but often cannot find it,” said Badrawi. “This is not a coincidence. It is the result of decades of insufficient investment in quality education, technical education, and university reform.” As such, companies “pay twice, once as a taxpayer and again as an employer searching for skills and competence that are not available.”
Inconvenient truth?
Structural reform of school systems requires significant spending. Yet the government continues to underinvest in education. “The Egyptian Constitution mandates that no less than 6% of national income be allocated to education; this has not yet been implemented,” noted Badrawi.
However, simply adjusting the state’s budget to meet this constitutional obligation is not enough. “We must also ensure accountability. Parliament must question how funds are allocated and spent,” he said. “Yes, we need increased funding, but we must also track spending carefully and ensure transparency.”
Ultimately, Badrawi was adamant that decisive action is needed to accelerate education reform. “No successful modern economy … has built competitiveness on a failing public education system [as it] serves … around 85% or more … of our population,” he said. “If education is governed solely by market logic, we risk creating two societies within one nation: one that owns the future and one that is excluded from it.”
Staying the course of low investment in education would inevitably jeopardize Egypt’s economic future. “Any economy that grows while leaving a generation behind in education is not building prosperity; it is building a delayed crisis,” said Badrawi. “I am not calling for conflict between the state and the private sector. Instead, I am calling for a new social contract for education.”
