Egypt’s Minister of Education: ‘No One Forced Parents to Enroll Kids in Expensive Schools’

Every single parent in Egypt is suffering this year. Whether they chose a national or international school for their kids, fees have skyrocketed in the past few months. Everyone has been filing complaints against schools’ illogical and sudden changes. No one sees any kind of legal monitoring and it is extremely disturbing.

Now, we have been kind of impressed with Egypt’s newly appointed Minister of Education, Tarek Shawki. We thought he would see where parents are coming from, but in his latest meeting, Shawki voiced his opinion…

Shawki addressed the rise in international school fees and how parents are reacting to it. He explained that in any developed country, some products and services cost more than others, based on what they offer the consumer. So, if you target a school that offers good quality of education, it would only make sense for it to cost more. Shawki also added that “no one forced parents to choose such schools.”

Actually Shawki, we are kind of forced to choose expensive schools as what national schools offer is a joke. It does not fit children of 2017 in any means. We chose expensive schools willingly, but we cannot be forced or surprised with an over 50% increase in fees, even though in most schools the teaching staff are Egyptians, who are not paid in dollars. Just because a parent could afford an EGP 40,000 school, it doesn’t mean they can upgrade their budget to EGP 70,000 per year.

Yet, on a more positive end, Youm7 claimed that Shawki plans on forcing schools to deduct the applications’ cost from the total school fees. Another matter that has been stressing parents is the EGP 1,000 application as it basically means the parents lost money if their child doesn’t pass the assessment.

WE SAID THIS: The least we hope for is for international schools to be monitored so there is no place for greed, and to be sure that it is a pure supply and demand matter.