Understanding the educational landscape is essential for understanding reality and planning for the future.
I searched for a single, recent, clearly published official figure for the total number of “foreign schools” in Egypt, but could not find one, because the term encompasses several different categories.
Before summarizing the current situation, it is worth noting that Egypt has approximately 62,690 pre-university schools, serving more than 25.6 million students in the 2025/2026 academic year.
- The total number of private schools is approximately 11,000, representing around 17% of all schools in Egypt.
- If we consider the number of students rather than the number of schools, students in private education account for only around 10–13% of the total.
- Students in international education, within the narrower definition of private education—that is, schools offering foreign curricula or international qualifications, excluding national private schools—generally number around 150,000 to 200,000 students nationwide.
- Compared with approximately 25.7 million pre-university students, this is a very small segment: less than 1% of the total.
The 13% figure cited by the Minister of Education includes private education as a whole, international education, and public schools that charge tuition. It does not refer to international education alone.
First: Private International Schools
The category most closely associated with the term “foreign schools”
These are private schools that offer accredited foreign curricula—British, American, International Baccalaureate, French, German, and others—and whose qualifications are recognized as equivalent to the Egyptian secondary-school certificate and to the corresponding qualification in the relevant foreign country.
The figures currently circulating include:
- Specialized databases updated in 2026 list approximately 143 international schools nationwide.
- A report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in May 2025 mentioned 103 international schools in Greater Cairo alone.
- Press reports, citing the Ministry of Education, have reported higher figures reaching approximately 800 schools among private schools offering international programs.
The main curricula offered by these schools
- British — IGCSE followed by A-Levels; the most widely represented.
- American — American Diploma + GPA.
- International Baccalaureate (IB).
- French — approximately 15 schools officially accredited by the French side.
- German and Canadian, and to a lesser extent Italian and other curricula.
Under Egyptian law, these schools are required to teach Arabic, religious education, and social studies/history to Egyptian students.
Second: Government Schools Offering International Education
Not “foreign” schools in the traditional sense
These are schools operated by the state or established through government initiatives, with tuition fees considerably lower than those of private international schools.
| Type | Approximate Current Number | Certificate / Curriculum |
|---|---|---|
| Official International Schools (IPS) | 33 schools | British (IGCSE), with some offering American curricula |
| Egyptian International Nile Schools | 14 schools | Nile International Certificate (CNISE), in partnership with Cambridge |
| Egyptian International Schools (EIS) | 3 schools | International Baccalaureate (IB) |
| Egyptian-Japanese Schools | 69–79 schools | Egyptian curriculum + Japanese Tokkatsu educational system; not a fully foreign curriculum |
The Official International Schools (IPS) are the closest equivalent to “government international education,” with tuition fees of approximately EGP 15,000–20,000 per year.
The approximately 60,000 government schools, which serve more than 25 million students, represent the overwhelming majority of Egypt’s educational system.
Assuming an average of three children per family, with a family consisting of five people, the Ministry of Education is dealing with millions of families and represents one of the most important executive arms of the state because it is the primary provider of education.
Yet media discussions tend to focus, unfortunately, on the 1% of students in international education and the 10% in private education, which also includes government schools that charge tuition—as though the problems facing Egyptian society are concentrated in the segment of the population that is fully or relatively capable of confronting these challenges.
