QUALITY OF EDUCATION:

THE GATEWAY TO EMPLOYABILITY

Shamshad Akhtar
1


Introduction: The Luxor Education Roundtable
(March 19-20, 2010) on the Quality of Education: The
Gateway to Employability was jointly organized
between Minister of Investment Mahmoud
Mohieldin of Egypt and the World Bank. The
Round Table is a direct response to a request from
the Government of Egypt (GoE) to identify and
share best practices in the development of sound
education systems around the world. The objective
is to enrich the current debate among Egyptian
decision makers on how to improve the quality of
education so that it contributes more effectively to
the countrys future economic development.
Egypt - A Background on the Education Sector:
Egypt is known for its rich educational and
intellectual traditions within the Middle East and
North Africa region and beyond. The country has
not only achieved universal primary education but
its enrollment rates in secondary education, at 76%,
compares favorably with its peers in the region and
beyond. The share of population attending
university education is also rising. This growth has
been driven by a public sector which runs and
manages the bulk of the system. However, despite

1
. This Fast Brief is based on the speech given by Shamshad
Akhtar at the High-level Education Vice President , Middle East
and North Africa Region, The World Bank Roundtable held in
Luxor, Egypt for decision-makers and other key stakeholders
from that country.
high investments and improved access, the
economic returns to education in Egypt remain
subdued and, unless addressed, carry the risk of
impeding the countrys competitiveness as it
delivers a work force which has lower productivity
levels than its inherent potential.
Youth Unemployment: Young educated entrants to
the labor market suffer from exceedingly high
unemployment rates, estimated at around 24% of
the 15-24 age group. This constitutes a significant
drag on the economy and on the aspirations of
youth for a better life. Enterprise surveys in Egypt
indicate that the school to work transition is
complex and firms report that worker skills and
education are among the top five constraints in the
business climate. Despite a growing supply of
employees with secondary and tertiary diplomas,
employers still face a shortage of staff with the
skills and education they require, and overall
returns to education expenditure are low.
Moreover, labor force participation rates among
women with university education actually decreased
from 73% to 61% between 1998 and 2006.
Employment and the Quality of Education: Cross-
country experience suggests that the principal
reason for the paradox of expanded enrollments
and unmet demand for skills is the poor quality of
education. A few years ago, Harvard Economist
Lant Pritchett asked Where has all the education
gone? in a paper that looked for and failed to
March 2010
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March 2010 Number 3 2
find-- any significant relationship between
schooling and economic growth around the world.
The key explanatory variable for this conundrum is
low quality of education. As international evidence
on test scores mounted, a number of studies have
been produced which do find a link between school
enrolment and economic growth, if we adjust for
the issue of quality of education.
Egypt and the Quality of Education: Egypts story
with regard to the quality of education is mixed.
Internationally comparable test results at the
secondary level are as high here as in Latin
America - a region with two to three times the GDP
per capita of Egypt. Nonetheless, they are still well
below scores in OECD countries, and they have not
been improving quickly enough to improve labor
market outcomes and economic growth.
At the tertiary level, rapid and highly subsidized
expansion in a context of limited fiscal resources
has resulted in a deterioration of quality. Poorly
paid and under-equipped staff face overcrowded
classes, with little incentive to improve outcomes.
The Vocational Training System remains
fragmented between different ministries and
agencies, many programs are supply driven, and
the quality of training programs remains low.
How to Reform? Any discussion of reform has to
take into account not only these realities but some
further realities. Not least, since Egypt already
spends a large share of its GDP on basic education,
further improvements at the primary and
secondary level will need to rely on improved
efficiency, not larger budgets.
Furthermore, issues regarding returns to
investment in education in Egypt extend beyond
ministries and government agencies directly
engaged in education and training. For example,
international evidence suggests that more strict
employment protection regulation is associated
with higher levels of informality. This suggests that
education reform needs to go hand-in-hand with
labor market reforms. The need to incorporate both
the concerns of those who provide the demand for
an educated workforce as well the agencies which
help shape that demand is the reason for the
inclusion of a wide range of Ministries in the Luxor
round-table was so valuable.
Elements of a Successful Reform Process: There
are no magic recipes to respond to these challenges.
Successful education reforms are usually wide-
ranging, extended and multi-faceted efforts.
Worldwide experience indicates that, to succeed,
education reform efforts need a focus on
governance issues that help align incentives with
results, a strong engagement with stakeholders, the
commitment of resources over the long-term, and
robust monitoring and evaluation. with results.
The World Bank has experience from many
countries in supporting efforts to increase returns
to investment in education. The Round Table
included some of these partners who came to share
their experiences. Among the issues discussed were
global experiences with programs ranging from
pre-school to post-tertiary education including: (i)
the expansion of preschool opportunities and
incentives to parents; (ii) curriculum reform and
quality assurance alongside decentralization of
financing and responsibilities across education
levels, (iii) improved coordination between
institutions of education and training within the
government and (iv) targeted subsidies for youth
and female employment school-to-work training
programs.
The forum proved the opportunity for open
discussion among policy makers and experts from
around the world on the way forward for Egypt as
it seeks to reclaim its role as a leader in education in
the Region with world class education institutions.
The World Bank stands ready to work with Egypt
on this important endeavor and to support the
efforts the government decides to undertake.
Concluding Notes: To conclude, it has to be
recognized that Egypt is among the worlds oldest
cultures with a well-established tradition of
learning and universities. This, coupled with its
standing in the Arab World, makes the country

March 2010 Number 3 3
uniquely positioned to design its own responses to
the issues at hand while drawing from
international experience. Given the rich, diverse
and world class experience that was brought to the
Luxor round table, the Bank is optimistic that
policy makers and education professionals in the
country will take full advantage of this event and
challenge themselves to further fine-tune their
reform agenda and develop actionable ideas
regarding the governance and financial
arrangements that Egypt needs to put in place to
further improve the quality of its educational
system.
















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