The state is turning the spotlight on technical agricultural education: The Education Ministry is working to upgrade the agricultural vocational education system through a comprehensive national strategy as it looks to position agriculture as a key engine of economic growth. The plan, which involves deeper private sector involvement, a curriculum overhaul, and infrastructure upgrades, seeks to cater to the needs of the labor market as part of this push.

Agricultural schools are far outnumbered by their industrial peers: The country is home to 172 agricultural schools, compared to nearly 1k industrial and commercial technical schools, according to Education Ministry figures. Some 219.5k students are enrolled in agricultural schools, representing just 15% of all technical education students — including those in three-year programs, five-year schools, and the dual system Mubarak-Kohl schools. The country’s agricultural schools are staffed by around 11.6k teachers.

In addition to these schools, there are two specialized agricultural institutes, one with 28k students, Ain Shams University Faculty of Agriculture Dean Ahmed Galal told EnterpriseAM.

Private sector partnerships are a cornerstone of the strategy. The ministry is looking to partner with several private manufacturers within the sector to provide hands-on training to the students of agricultural schools, a source at the ministry told EnterpriseAM. The goal is to move beyond traditional academic instruction and offer on-site training at factories, where students can learn about production and processing as well as modern technologies such as smart agriculture systems.

ICYMI- The education and agriculture ministries in December agreed to partner with Heliopolis University and a private agricultural firm to jointly develop agricultural technical schools and train students in different agricultural specializations.

Private players are making headway: Elsewedy University of Technology (SUTech) and UAE-based Al Dahra’s local subsidiary Al Dahra Egypt are working on a joint initiative to train students enrolled in the university’s agricultural programs under an MoU inked by the pair last month. The partnership will see the two parties developing training programs, practical applications, and curricular and extracurricular activities.

Curriculum and infrastructure upgrades are in the works: The ministry is currently working with experts from the Agricultural Research Center to update the curricula of agricultural technical schools, said a source at the ministry’s agricultural extension sector, which works to disseminate agricultural information. The comprehensive plan also includes infrastructurally transforming technical schools into smart schools that leverage modern agritech, the source said.

Graduating business-savvy students is on the agenda, with the strategy seeking to encourage young graduates to establish business incubators in the agricultural sector, the source said.

Developing agricultural education is of economic importance: The state’s push to promote agriculture as a driving force for development and achieve food self-sufficiency has made agricultural education imperative, said Galal. Developing this educational sector is essential to raising agriculture’s contribution to Egypt’s GDP, he explained, pointing to countries whose economies are built on agriculture or livestock as models.

And it could help lower the import bill: While Egypt has the world’s highest per-acre productivity for wheat and rice, it still imports 95% of its vegetable seeds, Galal said.

Interest in agricultural education is rising: A growing number of young people are seeking to change career paths and learn agricultural skills, given the importance of agricultural investment, Galal noted.

What’s next? Bridging the gap between education and the labor market will require stronger partnerships between vocational schools and agribusinesses, Galal said. He also emphasized the need for coursework focused on AI-powered farm management, smart irrigation, and digital agri-tech tools to keep pace with global trends.

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