What the Numbers Say About Pre-University Education Infrastructure

Updated 9/13/2025 9:00:00 AM

As Egypt prepares for the new academic year, families, students, and educators gear up for the familiar “back to school” season. For fiscal year (FY) 2025/26, the government has allocated EGP 63.4 billion to education services. The plan aims to expand and upgrade infrastructure through building 17,252 new classrooms, rehabilitating 1,851 schools, and renewing over 12,500 classrooms. Technical education will also see upgrades, all with the goal of reducing class density to 40 students per class by 2024/25 and 30 by 2030.

In this Factsheet, we highlight key statistics on pre-university education infrastructure during the most recent academic year 2024/25, focusing on schools and classes.

In 2024/25, the total number of schools in Egypt reached 62,056, compared to 61,512 in 2023/24, reflecting a growth rate of 1%.
Public schools in 2024/25 were the majority with 50,500, representing 81.4% of the total, while private schools accounted for 18.6% with 11,556 schools.
Rural areas hosted 34,969 schools (56.3%) in 2024/25, whereas urban areas had 27,087 schools (43.6%), showing a clear rural dominance.
In 2024/25, the education system included 13,612 pre-primary schools, 20,237 primary schools, 14,281 preparatory schools, 4,328 community education schools, and 1,185 institutions for students with special needs.
At the secondary level, general secondary schools (Thanaweya Amma) totaled 4,969 during 2024/25, while technical education schools, covering industrial, agricultural, commercial, and hospitality programs, reached 3,444.
Among governorates, Cairo ranked first with 6,114 schools (9.9% of the total) in 2024/25, followed by Sharqia with 4,809 (7.7%) and Giza with 4,413 (7.1%). This reflects concentration of schools in heavily populated areas.
Turning to classrooms, the total number of classes across Egypt in 2024/25 reached 672,852, compared to 556,888 in 2023/24, marking a notable growth rate of 21%.
Public schools in 2024/25 hosted 568,866 classes, representing 84.5% of the total. Meanwhile, private schools accounted for 103,986 classes, or 15.5% of the total.
Rural areas had 339,363 classes (50.4% of the total) in 2024/25, closely matched by 333,489 classes (49.6%) in urban areas.
Finally, the average class size improved significantly, declining from 46.1 students in 2023/24 to 38.4 in 2024/25, signaling progress toward reducing classroom overcrowding.