Education Minister Tarek Shawki announced that the government’s new Japanese-style schools will begin accepting online applications for the 2018-19 school year as of 2 July, according to Al Mal. The schools had pushed their inaugural semester for a year from last fall. 22 out of a planned 45 schools are expected to be ready for September. Egypt and Japan had signed in February a USD 175.7 mn loan agreement to finance the construction of schools in Egypt that operate using Japanese curricula.