The Arab Republic of Egypt joined GPE as a partner country in September 2023. Although the country has achieved gender parity in school enrollments, 53% of girls drop out of school at secondary level due to child marriage and harmful gender norms.

Egypt, with support from GPE, has developed a comprehensive education sector plan to transform its education system to ensure universal access to equitable, inclusive and quality education for all girls and boys.

The country is committed to achieving gender equality as stated in Egypt's Vision 2030, making gender equality one of the major pillars of the sector plan.

The government has recognized that to address gender inequalities in society and the economy as a whole, there’s a need to empower girls and women through education and to encourage girls and young women to study science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects, with focused attention on rural regions where gender gaps are most pronounced.

Planning to improve education access and quality for girls in Egypt

In its education sector plan, the government of Egypt commits to improving opportunities and empowerment for girls by addressing gender gaps in sustained educational participation and regional disparities in learning outcomes for specific subject areas. It will do so by:

• Providing a gender-sensitive, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environment
• Providing an inclusive curriculum for all students
• Reducing financial barriers to education for girls from low-income families
• Increasing access to digital devices and internet connectivity in both rural and urban areas
• Strengthening collaboration and partnerships between government and non-government providers of education.

The Ministry's communication strategy for the sector plan pledges to enhance dialogue with key stakeholders including education officials at different levels, other ministries, and development partners, through an extensive community dialogue mechanism.

Additional support for Ministry staff

Egypt’s Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE) has been supported by GPE’s partnership with GIZ (the German agency for International Cooperation) to build a more gender-responsive education system.

To assist the government’s initiative to strengthen gender equality and tackle challenges marginalized girls face as well as harmful gender norms in schools, GIZ supported the participation of MoETE staff and partners in a multi-country workshop in Dakar, Senegal, facilitated by the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) in December 2023.

The workshop provided a unique opportunity for the Egyptian delegation to learn about gender-responsive planning for education and discussed how to translate its education sector plan into action.

GIZ's contribution extended to funding a supplementary workshop in Egypt that served to disseminate the Dakar workshop's findings and recommendations among a broader spectrum of ministry staff.

The supplementary workshop explained how early marriage and gender stereotypes were the main barriers to achieving Egypt’s education sector plan priorities that address gender inequalities throughout the system.

Recognizing the necessity of policies that address the specific needs of marginalized girls due to gender norms, location and poverty, the collaboration between GIZ, UNICEF, UNGEI and GPE has been instrumental in supporting Egypt to identify gender gaps within its education system that can be addressed through support from GPE and other partners.

This partnership has also strengthened coordination among members of the local education group.

Going forward, the joint efforts to make education sector plans more gender-responsive and to strengthen capacity of education sector staff to promote gender equality bolster better education opportunities for every child regardless of their gender at each stage of education and in every region across Egypt.