Beyond access: quality education in community schools of Egyptian slums
Student name: Ms Manar Moustafa Abdel Kader Ramadan
Guide: Dr L N Venkataraman
Year of completion: 2017
Host Organisation: Community school in North Egypt
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Ms Nermeen El Kammar
Abstract: Community schools (CS) were introduced in Egypt in 1992 by the
UNICEF to solve the disparity of school access and provide quality education for
less privileged sectors in the Egyptian society. They are different than public
schools for their existence in remote villages and slums, aiming to prevent
children dropout from education and to contribute as a solution for the
overpopulated classrooms. This study attempts to test if community schools can
fill the education quality gap in the context of the Egyptian slums and to discover
the state support and policy challenges while initiating and operating community
schools. In this research, I was affiliated with a community school located in one
of the slums located in North Egypt, serving 70 students. UNICEF Education
quality criteria are used as a conceptual framework for this research. Primary
data was collected based on participatory field observation by attending classes
and by direct interaction with students and teachers. Semi structured interviews
were carried out with key informants, parents, students, teachers and the school’s
founder. The last part of the study is centered around policy challenges CS
encounters from its establishment to every day running process.
The study concludes by highlighting the potential of acting as
transformative tool for slum community. High quality education could be
achieved by supporting more investment in human resources from MoE and CS
sides,and by adopting innovative active learning methodologies. The paper then
reveals and reasons the policy gaps that had to be looked into for sustaining and
replicating this model.
Keywords: Egypt, Community school, Education, Slum, Quality.
