The expenditure on primary education reached LE45.3 billion, which constitutes 6.6% of total public expenditure and 56% of total expenditure on education in 2013/2014, according to Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
In a study entitled “Development of basic education in Egypt”, issued on Monday, CAPMAS said that the most important issues related to primary education include widespread abstention from enrollment, insufficient classroom capacity, high amout of pupils in classes and school dropouts.
The number of elementary schools has increased to 28,500 in 2013/14, CAPMAS said, expecting the number to reach 34,200 schools by 2024/25. The number of elementary school pupils reached 14.2 million in 2013/14, while the number of teachers reached 636,900 in the same period.
The average amount of pupils in classes in the primary stage reached 42.8 per class in 2013/14. The highest amount was witnessed in Giza, Qalyubia and Kafr al-Sheikh, while the lowest was registered in South Sinai.
The average amount of students in elementary schools is 40.3 students per class in 2013/14.
The number of dropouts reached 73,300 students in the primary stage, compared to 187,600 students in preparatory stage, between the years 2011/12 and 2012/13.
The rate of enrollment in primary schools reached 95.2 percent in 2013/14.
