The harsh reality in low- and middle-income nations is that their top minds and talent often realize that working in wealthy nations can lead to higher living standards, better amenities and public infrastructure, and resources to build more fulfilling careers.  

Bringing them back or retaining them is difficult. “Reversing brain drain is more than a policy challenge,” noted a January 2025 paper from Beyond Emerging Europe, a digital platform promoting talent development. “It is a broader project of national renewal, requiring trust in domestic institutions and belief in a shared future.” 

For low- and middle-income nations, brain drain means more remittances. Remittances were Egypt’s largest source of foreign currency inflows in fiscal year 2025/2026, accounting for nearly a third of the country’s total.  

A win-win solution would be for the government to overhaul school and university education systems. As a result, top local talent might secure more lucrative jobs, sending more money home. In the long run, it could prompt youth to consider staying in Egypt. 

Much-needed change 

A June 2025 paper from the World Economic Forum (WEF) said the primary challenge facing education is that “teachers are often disconnected from today’s labor market, let alone tomorrow’s.” School and, to a lesser extent, university curricula are outdated. “In a world shaped by rapid technological change … we’re preparing students to compete in a system designed for another century,” the paper said. 

The gap is most evident in secondary education. Its “metrics often reward memorization, individual performance, and technical accuracy,” which the WEF noted are “skills that are increasingly being automated by AI.” 

Overhauling Gen Alpha’s technical skill sets is essential. “By 2028 … nearly 23% of jobs will change … with 69 million roles created and 44% of workers’ core skills expected to change,” said the WEF. “[This is] one of the deepest misalignments in education today: We’re preparing students for a future we can’t predict, using frameworks built for a world we’ve already left behind.” 

AI elephant 

Since ChatGPT launched, it was inevitable AI would be integrated into primary, secondary, and higher education. A September UNESCO paper said the technology’s impact is similar to “writing transforming memory into text … 5,000 years ago” and “Gutenberg’s printing press democratizing knowledge … 600 years ago. For the first time in history, technology is not silent. It speaks back.” 

For formal education ecosystems to cope, the UNESCO paper said the first step is to revisit the classroom setup. Instead of “a teacher in front of a chalkboard, students sitting in rows, reading from textbooks,” education systems need to adjust to “a new actor [AI] that never sleeps, never breathes, never stops ingesting information.” 

That raises existential questions. “Do we still need classrooms, teachers, textbooks? … What does it mean to be a student?” said the UNESCO paper. “That is the magnitude of the disruption before us.” 

Answering these questions requires revisiting several education fundamentals. “First, AI as tutor,” the paper said. “Chat-based assistants and adaptive platforms now provide explanations, practice, and feedback, often in local languages and even through low-bandwidth channels.” 

To maximize AI’s benefits, educators, government officials, and other stakeholders need to work with AI companies to develop tools that “encourage reasoning [to] improve [student learning] outcomes,” the paper said. “When [AI] simply hands out answers, students may learn less, not more. The difference lies in how the technology is used and supported.” 

The second education fundamental that needs revisiting is “AI as co-professor.” This shift is already happening. A September UNESCO survey of university chairs found that “nine in ten respondents use AI in their professional work, [saying it] frees time for higher-level teaching.” That is despite “many expressing uncertainty about its pedagogical value and its implications for integrity.” 

The third education fundamental that needs changing emerges from “AI as companion,” UNESCO noted. “Surveys in high-income countries suggest that a majority of teenagers have already experimented with AI companions, [using] them regularly for serious conversations … That raises concerns about privacy, dependency, and the substitution of human relationships.” 

Developing countries, including Egypt, will inevitably encounter the “AI as companion” trend. Already having an education ecosystem equipped to address this shift would help mitigate its societal risks. 

‘Learning Compass’ 

Transforming a country’s education ecosystem isn’t limited to developing technical skills to cope with emerging technologies. It also needs to address psychological and societal changes.  

The OECD, a group of rich nations, published the “OECD Learning Compass 2030” as “an evolving learning framework that sets out an aspirational vision for the future of education.” 

Learning Compass 2030’s directional “competencies”: knowledge (north), values (east), skills (south), and attitudes (west). These “guide students to well-being,” the OECD said.   

Its “degree markings” are called “core foundations.” The first is “literacy and numeracy” between the knowledge and attitudes competencies. “Data and digital literacy” lies between knowledge and values. “Physical and mental health” is between values and skills. Lastly, “social and emotional foundations” lies between the skills and attitudes competencies.  

The traditional compass rose (outer circle) is called “transformative competencies” in Learning Compass 2030. It comprises “creating new value,” “reconciling tensions and dilemmas,” and “taking responsibility for actions.”   

These competencies evolve as students act, reflect on their decisions, and anticipate what comes next. These actions represent the movable bezel of a physical compass.  

Lastly, the compass needle represents “student agency” moving under the influence of “co-agency with peers, parents [and] communities.”   

‘Teaching Compass’ 

Students are not the only ones needing direction. “Teaching Compass 2030” has the “anchor” at its center. The needle attached to it moves based on three drivers: “‘being’ [is] staying true to your purpose [strengthened by] increased self-awareness, ‘becoming’ is always growing and learning originating from self-reflection [and] ‘belonging’ is knowing your part in the greater community thanks to self-care,” the OECD paper explained.  

The Teaching Compass 2030 needle traverses the “learning ecosystem boat.” One-third is “teacher agency,” the OECD said. “It is more than autonomy; it is the belief that teachers can positively impact students and systems.” It comprises “individual agency, co-agency, [and] collective agency.” It comes from “continuous professional learning.” 

The second third is “teacher competencies,” essential for “leading learning today,” the OECD said. It includes “knowledge of their field, themselves, and students; skills to communicate, adapt, and lead; [and] attitudes and values that guide human ethical teaching.” It emerges from “self-directed learning.” 

The last third of the Teaching Compass 2030 is “teaching well-being, which supports [the other two],” noted the OECD. It comprises “physical, socio-emotional [and] cognitive well-being.” It is affected by “anticipation, action [and] reflection.” 

Change mindset  

UNESCO’s report noted that successfully developing an education ecosystem requires “moving beyond binary thinking.” “The truth lies somewhere in between. [As with] most big [technological and social] disruptions, the impact … on education will be complex, contradictory, and unfolding all at once.” 

The OECD paper stressed “learning from the past,” explaining, “History is not only a chronology but a reservoir of tested ideas and cautionary tales … Foresight that is untethered from lived reality quickly dissolves into speculation.” 

However, education reformers mustn’t overlook the present. “The most powerful future thinking [requires] listening to authentic inner voices as well as community voices, noticing subtle signals of social or ecological change, and acknowledging emotions that surface in the face of uncertainty,” OECD noted. 

Ultimately, successfully developing an education ecosystem means Gen Alpha would “learn to pause, reflect and act with intention rather than merely sprinting toward the next credential or trend,” said OECD. “A person anchored in the present can discern genuine opportunity and can imagine futures that honor the constraints and possibilities unfolding around them.”