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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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The informal "market of education" in Egypt- private tutoring and its implications
| Panel |
17. States at work: African public services in comparative perspective
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| Paper ID | 243 |
| Author(s) |
Hartmann, Sarah Johanna
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| Paper |
View paper (PDF)
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| Abstract | Education is generally perceived as a public good which ought to be provided by the state. In Egypt, free and equal access to education has been guaranteed to all citizens since President Nasser’s socialist reforms in the 1950s. However, due to high population growth rates and a lack of financial resources, the public education system has been struggling to accommodate rapidly increasing numbers of students. While enrolment rates have risen steadily, the quality of the state-provided services has deteriorated: teachers and students have to cope with high class densities, insufficient facilities, a rigid syllabus and a centralized examination system. Today, teaching is among the lowest-paying occupations in the public sector.
One strategy to cope with this situation is the widespread practice of private tutoring, which usually takes place at students’ homes or, in its more institutionalized form, in commercial tutoring centers. Despite the prevalence of private tutoring practices, not only in Egypt, but in many countries all over the world, with different characteristics and degrees of institutionalization, the phenomenon has so far received little academic attention. While a number of studies have been published referring to Asia, little research on tutoring has so far been conducted in Africa and the Middle East.
Based on research carried out in Cairo in 2004/05 and 2006, this paper uses an actor-centered approach, analyzing the motivations of Egyptian teachers and students for participation in private tutoring and the impact that this practice has on the relationship between teachers and students. Students of all socio-economic backgrounds resort to tutoring in order to succeed in a highly competitive and exam-oriented education system. At the same time, tutoring provides an opportunity for teachers not only to supplement their income, but also, in the case of renowned “star teachers”, to improve their professional status and autonomy.
An informal “market of education” has thus developed in Egypt during the last decades, where the educational responsibilities of the state are increasingly being taken over by private actors, i.e. the process of teaching and learning is dissociated from the direct control of the state and from school as an institution. At the same time, education is increasingly turned into a marketable commodity. Despite the government’s efforts to provide free education, and therefore equal opportunities, to all citizens, the quality of social services that can be accessed in Egypt depends mainly on the financial means of the individual or the family.
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