The Education Ministry seems to be exploring a different strategy to increase private-sector players’ role in the education sector, moving not just to attract investments for new projects, but to hand over the management of official international schools to private operators, a government official tells EnterpriseAM.

The initiative has already been put into action with the transfer of 33 official international schools to private education development and school management company Emerald Education, which took place under an agreement signed in December. Emerald will now handle everything from staffing and procurement to daily administration and the delivery of internationally-accredited curricula.

But while Emerald — and other private players under the same arrangement — have leeway in how to run the schools, that doesn’t apply to fee hikes. Emerald’s new schools under its portfolio will remain committed to the 7% annual cap on fee hikes, our source tells us.

Why this matters

For the state, the move represents a healthy balance between the public and private sectors, we were told. The approach aims to improve management efficiency, support education quality standards, and ease administrative burdens on the Education Ministry, while also maintaining a level of state oversight and regulatory frameworks governing tuition fees and curricula, our source tells us.

Private sector involvement will also support the state’s aim of increasing the number of schools offering internationally-accredited certifications by way of increased investment, which has declined over the past two years, we were told.

The hoped-for increase in private sector interest in education through private-public partnerships should also address regional disparities, with the strategy deliberately aimed at creating fairer access to specialized education beyond the capital, the source added.

And the private sector agrees, but for different reasons. “This move was long overdue,” Private School Owners Association Deputy Chairman Badawy Allam tells EnterpriseAM. He notes that while private education accounts for over 70% of the system in neighboring countries, it sits at just 25% in Egypt. Allam warns that while management handovers are a good start, reigniting major investor interest will require addressing long-standing hurdles like rigid building requirements and the rising cost of land.

By the numbers: State-owned schools outnumber private ones 5x, with the private sector having just 10.4k schools and the state having 54.0k.

These aren’t the only public-private partnerships in education planned for 2026

Some 40 national schools may soon also find new private-sector managers, with the government currently reviewing offers for a set of schools mostly centred around Cairo and Giza. The state’s long-stalled public-private partnership program for schools will also launch next month with 24 schools offered up to investors. The launch could coincide with a set of investment incentives to attract investors to the sector, our source added.

Emerald is also set to lead on managing and developing Japanese schools in the country in partnership with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, with 10 new schools to be added this year to bring the total number to 79. The private education development and school management company has also been tapped to oversee the rollout of a new German school system that will see 100 German schools opened in partnership with the Goethe-Institut and the German Central Agency for Schools Abroad.

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