Assessment in Egypt

Abstract

This profile traces shifts over time in government assessment aims in Egypt and explores their implementation, drawing on historical data. It outlines initially the policies of past Egyptian leaders that led the assessment system to take its recent form and shows how some political intentions for assessment have kept re-emerging. The current aims of President Mubarak are then shown to focus on improvement of quantity and quality in education, especially primary education. The condition of the whole education system is described, which puts in context the way the assessment system operates. A picture of the shortcomings of both education generally and assessment specifically also helps explain President Mubarak's aims. His aims provide a rationale for recent reforms that sought to improve the learning of the individual, as well as improve the system that assessed it and the country that managed it. The data for this profile were mainly collected in 1996.