Egypt’s education ministry has set the annual tuition fee increase rate for private schools for the next five years, according to a statement reported by Al-Ahram Arabic.
The increase rates, which apply from the 2016/2017 academic year, have been set between 3 and 11 percent annually, depending on the size of the tuition fees.
Schools with tuition fees below EGP 2,000 per year will increase fees by 11 percent per year, those with fees between EGP 2,001-3,000 will increase by 8 percent, those with fees between EGP 3,001-4,000 by 6 percent, those between EGP 4,001-7,000 by 4 percent. Schools charging in excess of EGP 7,000 per year will be able to increase them by 3 percent annually.
Private schools are obliged to commit to the increase rates set by the ministry.
In 2014, the education ministry passed new regulations aiming to curb the continuing hikes in private education fees, allowing schools to increase rates every five years instead of two.
Soaring costs at private schools in Egypt is a major source of complaint among the country’s middle classes, given the faulty public education system in a country where the illiteracy rate remains high, at around 26 percent.
Aside from some 51,000 public schools across Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country is estimated to have over 8,000 private schools, over a hundred of which describe themselves as international schools.
Parents who cannot afford private schools often devote income to paying for private lessons — deemed a must to offset the perceived weaknesses of public education.