The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) hosted a discussion on “The Future of Teachers in Egypt” on October 5, marking World Teachers’ Day. 

Held as part of EIPR’s “Education and Society” salon, the discussion featured education expert and retired Arabic teacher Hilal Abdel Hamid. Drawing on Abdel Hamid’s teaching experience, the discussion examined teachers’ economic and social conditions and their working environment.

Abdel Hamid said worsening conditions and rising living costs were forcing many teachers to seek additional income to meet their basic needs, whether through other work, such as farming in rural areas, or private tutoring. Education reform, he stressed, begins with improving teachers’ conditions.

He criticized the Teachers Syndicate’s weak defense of its members’ interests and the absence of union elections since 2013. Teachers receive low pensions despite years of service and regular union contributions, he said, while the syndicate’s financial resources are not being used adequately to improve their circumstances.

The discussion also addressed barriers to education, particularly in Upper Egypt, where some students must travel long distances to school, leaving their families to cover additional transport costs. Abdel Hamid highlighted disparities in educational resources between villages and cities and their impact on equal opportunities, as well as the lack of seating in some classrooms.

Turning to the teacher shortage, Abdel Hamid noted its scale, as acknowledged by the government. He pointed to teachers being assigned more classes than the legal limit and the hiring of teachers paid by the class, who receive just LE37 per class after deductions. He also stressed the need for professional development to help teachers keep pace with developments in education.

Abdel Hamid criticized low education spending and the failure to meet the constitutional requirement to allocate 4% of gross domestic product (GDP) to pre-university education. Counting a portion of debt-servicing costs toward education and healthcare allocations, he said, creates a false impression that constitutional spending requirements are being met.

Reform requires the political will to make education a national priority, Abdel Hamid said, citing Egypt’s campaign against hepatitis C as an example of the tangible results possible when that will exists.