Minister of Education Moheb al-Rafeie talks to The Middle East Observer about the future of education in Egypt and the ministry’s development plans. In his interview with Angy Essam the minister speaks frankly about a number of issues
What is the total allocation that will be dedicated to supporting the Ministry of Education compared with the previous year’s allocation?
The education share of the new budget has increased over the previous budget to reach 4.1 per cent of the total budget, with technical education being included in this percentage.
What are the reasons for this increase?
We asked or an increase to cover the expenses that will be incurred in the education system for the application of the education uplift plan that we have already set in motion. For example, we need LE52bn to decrease class numbers to no more than 40 to 45 students in each class. We need to build new schools to accommodate the continuous increase in the number of students each year. We need to provide schools with technological structures and computers so that all our students will be able to synchronise with the latest technology. All these require an increase in our allocation.
Will this increase be enough to cover all the expenses needed to put in place the ministry’s development plan?
Of course not. The increase is just a step forward, and we actually need multiples of this increase to achieve our development plan. But these allocations are the maximum we can have now from the budget, so it is a start.
Where is the ministry going to spend this allocation?
In a lot of ways. First we will spend LE2.3bn on building new schools. Second, we will spend about LE700mn on maintaining and developing existing schools. There are also other expenses like developing school programmes; teacher training; providing technology structure in schools; and the greatest part of our budget goes on teachers’ and employees’ salaries which represented about 85 per cent of last year’s budget. This issue doesn’t only concern the Ministry of Education: all the ministries spend the largest share of their budget on wages and salaries.
What is the approximate cost of building a new school?
Building a school costs from LE5mn to LE15mn, and the cost of each classroom is about LE250,000.
What is the size of the investments in the private education sector?
Private schools represent about 10 per cent of the total number of schools in Egypt, and in the future the minister intends to increase the number of private schools because there is such a strong demand for them.
What is the percentage of the annual increase in private school fees?
There are three segments of annual increase percentage: these are 3 per cent, 5 per cent and 7 per cent. Each segment is applied according to the amount of the school fees, in other words private schools with high fees will increase by 3 per cent, schools with medium fees will increase by 5 per cent, and those with the lowest fees will increase by 7 per cent annually.
Will the annual increase in private school fees lead in turn to an annual increase in government school fees?
There has been absolutely no increase in government school fees for years, despite the fact that the fees for these schools are nominal. Even the fees of experimental schools haven’t increased for years. Experimental schools were better than private schools in the past, and the minister is working to retrieve this position.
What will be the total cost of hiring the 30,000 teachers that the ministry announced it is soon going to appoint?
Every teacher’s average monthly salary will be LE1,400, so the annual cost will simply be 30,000 multiplied by 1,400 multiplied by 12, that is an annual LE504mn.
What is the total cost of school books?
The approximate cost of school books this year will be about LE800mn. The ministry has made a deal with the Arab Organisation for Industrialisation to make a tablet for each secondary stage student to replace school books; the ministry has already made 200,000 tablets for the same number of secondary stage students as a test. This was very successful, and so we will popularise these tablets to cover all secondary students in Egypt. The tablets will be limited only to secondary students because primary and preparatory students are still at a stage where they need to use a pen and execute what they learn by writing.
Is the dollar crisis threatening the school books industry?
No, because all the school books are totally locally made so we don’t need any kind of hard currency in the school books industry
Is the economic crisis the direct reason for the education system’s fall back in Egypt?
This is definitely an important part of the problem. We are making regular development plans to lift the education system in Egypt, but executing these plans requires a big budget and the current economic conditions in Egypt can’t provide the ministry with this budget, so all the time we are developing only within the available budget given to us. We do not have enough money to put our plans in place completely.
What criteria do the ministry set to give the right of announcing high school results to private sector investors?
The rights for the high school results are given out using the bidding system. All the applicants, whether newspapers, websites, private companies or cell phone companies, take part in the bid, and in each of the sections like the Internet, SMS and voice messages, each of the participants will take one of these exclusively. The minister will give each of the winners permission to announce the results three hours before the official appearance.
What is the actual cost of ministry counsels?
There are no counsels in the ministry except for the legal counsel, and for me as a minister I have no counsels at all.
