In numbers: How Egypt’s Sisi undermined the right to education in 10 years of rule

Egyptian authorities' cuts to spending on schools are undermining the right to education, a Human Rights Watch report revealed on Monday.

According to the report, the spending reductions are likely to exacerbate an existing “crisis of poor quality education”, with severe shortages of trained and paid teachers and crumbling public school infrastructure leading to a failure to guarantee free primary and secondary education for every child.

In 2024, the Egyptian parliament approved an education budget of 295 billion Egyptian pounds (about US$6bn), representing just 1.7 percent of Egypt’s GDP of 17 trillion pounds (about $380bn).

This is despite Egypt’s 2014 constitution committing the state to spending no less than 6 percent of GDP on education.

The report found that under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt’s education spending has plummeted from 3.9 percent of GDP in 2014/15 to 1.7 percent of GDP in the 2024/25 budget. 

The HRW report added that Sisi has downplayed the urgency of increasing the education budget, citing other priorities, including security and military needs.

Egypt’s expenditure on education also falls well below international benchmarks, which recommend allocating 4-6 percent of GDP.

In 2024, the Education and Technical Education Ministry said that Egypt was suffering from a shortage of some 250,000 classrooms, with some schools forced to teach 200 students in one room.

According to official statements, shortages of teachers climbed to 469,000 in 2024.

The report raised concerns about Egypt’s education outcomes, with the World Bank estimating that as of 2019, almost 70 percent of students in Egypt were in “learning poverty”.

According to the report, one in four adults are illiterate.

“Insufficient spending on public education means the Egyptian government is delinquent on its obligations, with many students receiving poor-quality education in overcrowded and underfunded schools,” Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, said.

He added that crackdowns on freedom of expression and the lack of fair elections stifle dissent and prevent Egyptian people from challenging the government’s spending decisions.

Sisi became president in 2014, a year after he ousted his democratically elected predecessor, Mohamed Morsi, in a military coup. 

His rule has been criticised for overspending on multibillion-dollar megaprojects with little economic value, including a new administrative capital that is now the headquarters of his presidential palace, and other government agencies.