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Egypt’s education woes drive families to home schooling

The increasing frustration of students and parents with Egypt's public education system is leading some families to adopt home schooling as an alternative educational approach.
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ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — The merits and drawbacks of home schooling have recently become a topic of debate in Egypt. Students educated using this method forgo enrollment in the state’s public education system to be instructed by their parents and friends. They are taught from a very young age, including some at 3, until 17, using various sources of knowledge, especially digital resources.

Calls for such a system began to be made some five years ago, when increasing numbers of graduates of the public education system were no longer able to meet the standards and objectives set by the state and aspired to by the students themselves. These graduates, therefore, also did not meet the requirements of the labor market, as suggested in part by World Bank statistics documenting Egypt’s high rates of unemployment. In 2013, overall unemployment stood at 12.7%, with youth unemployment at 38.9%. An additional problem experts have noted is that the state’s education system does not harmonize curricula with the needs of the labor market.

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