The gov’t wants to expand Nile schools, with the help of the private sector: Private sector education players are welcoming the Education Ministry’s plans to expand its Nile Egyptian International Schools through partnerships with the private sector. The ministry is looking to expand the application of its Nile school curriculums by allowing private schools to set up new divisions that apply the curriculum, our sources tell us. The experimental expansion of the Nile school system will be limited to new divisions within existing private schools, rather than allowing the private sector to set up entirely new schools with the Nile system.

REFRESHER- What are Nile schools? The government launched Nile schools in 2010 in a bid to offer education services that meet international quality standards at more affordable price points than private international schools. The curriculum applied in Nile schools was designed in partnership with Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) and offers its students an Egyptian international certificate upon graduation. The bilingual curriculum delivers religious and social studies in Arabic, along with Arabic language lessons, while all remaining subjects are delivered in English. The schools are managed by the Misr Foundation for Educational Administration and are supervised by the Education Ministry, along with the University of Cambridge’s International Examinations Authority. There are currently 14 schools across the country that apply the Nile schools’ curriculum in Greater Cairo, Luxor, Assiut, Minya, Qena, Port Said, and Aswan.

What’s happening now? The Education Ministry is planning to allow private language schools to offer Nile International Education certificates after receiving the necessary certification, our sources at the ministry told us. These certifications will require schools to ensure that they will have dedicated teachers for the Nile system division, our sources said. The ministry is also limiting the trial run to allowing schools to set up divisions within their existing campuses, creating a controlled experiment before assessing the outcomes and further expanding the private sector’s application of the curriculum.

Part of what sets Nile schools apart is the pricing: The Nile school experiment is based on delivering an international curriculum at a lower price point than international schools in Egypt, our sources explained. The government will work on setting tuition fees for Nile system divisions with the private schools that are looking to set up these divisions within their schools. The fees will fall at a midpoint between national schools and international schools, our sources said. These fees will also be subject to the same 7% annual increase cap that the government imposes on private and international schools, according to our sources.

The private sector is on board: The government’s decision to bring private sector education players into the Nile schools is a welcome move that will help develop the local education industry, Private Schools Owners Association Chairman Badawy Allam tells us. Private national schools, for example, will benefit from setting up Nile system divisions since their fees will be higher than regular national school fees, which will allow these schools to grow their revenue streams, Allam said. This uptick in revenues could help drive fresh investments in new national schools, particularly as the costs of setting up new schools have been on the rise. Meanwhile, language schools could benefit from diversifying their education offerings, Al Hossam Schools Chairman Mandouh El Husseiny told Enterprise.

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