Egypt is transforming its pre-university education system for 25 million students by shifting from enrollment metrics to skills-based learning and introducing a new Egyptian Baccalaureate, Education Minister Mohamed Abdellatif announced at the Education World Forum in London.
The minister spoke at the forum’s second plenary session on future readiness in a rapidly changing world. He stressed that skills form the true engine of state power and called for aligning curricula, assessments, teachers, technology, data and school governance with challenges such as artificial intelligence and climate pressures.
Abdellatif said the new Egyptian Baccalaureate represents a structural shift away from exam pressure toward mastery, applied knowledge, research and critical thinking. “If we evaluate memorisation only, we teach memorisation,” he noted, adding that assessing thinking and communication helps students learn how to think.
Recent measures include boosting school attendance, cutting class sizes, tackling teacher shortages and using data to guide decisions. The reforms also target technical and vocational tracks to link them with industry needs and green skills while ensuring equity for rural and crowded classrooms.
Egypt remains open to global expertise yet prioritises national identity, aiming to produce graduates who are competitive worldwide and rooted in their communities.
