13. Redesigning the Curriculum for the Twenty-First Century

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

The Education 2.0 reform represented the largest leap in curriculum development since the establishment of the Center for Curriculum and Instructional Materials Development Center (CCIMD) in 1989. Its director Dr. Nawal Shalaby, led efforts with her team to draft new curriculum frameworks and oversee the production of the new books. They worked with representatives from private textbooks companies and UNICEF, among other experts. She talks about the history of curriculum development in Egypt, the necessity for more teacher training and preparation at the faculties of education, and the need for effective monitoring to know if and how the objectives of Education 2.0 are being realized on the ground.

9. Media Messaging about Education Reform

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

Yousra Allam served as the Marketing and Communication Advisor to H.E. the Minister of Education and Technical Education Dr. Tarek Shawki from 2017 to 2022. The communication to the public was complicated since the reform contained several components including a new curriculum, tablets for all students entering high school (Grade 10), the integration of digital resources, and changing modes of assessments. The team worked with private marketing, advertising, and media agencies to ensure their message would reach most of the geographical areas in the country. Through television, newspapers, online news, and social media platforms, they tailored their message to different social groups and generations.

2. Becoming and Being the Minister of Education

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

Tarek Shawki was unexpectedly called into government service to chair the Specialized Presidential Council for Education and Scientific Research while he was Dean of the School of Sciences and Engineering at the American University in Cairo. In 2017, the president appointed him Minister of Education and Technical Education to lead a comprehensive national education reform, ‘Education 2.0’. Shawki recalls his own quality public education in Egypt and Syria in the 1960s and 1970s, and his desire to bring that caliber back to twenty-first century Egypt. Inspired by Taha Hussein, a pioneering minister of education and man of letters from the past century, Shawki’s goal was to provide all Egyptians, regardless of their social class, gender, or location, a state-of-the-art quality public education. He recounts the challenges of working in a large state bureaucracy resistant to change, and his attempts to manage an often volatile public on social media. After leaving the position in 2023, he reflects on what he might have done differently and what he learned about Egyptian society.

10. UNICEF’s Life Skills Framework Comes to Egypt

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

UNICEF partnered with the Ministry of Education and Technical Education to help integrate its Life Skills and Citizenship Education (LSCE) framework into the new curriculum. Education Specialist Manar Ahmed Sharouda, recounts how the much-needed reforms prioritized early childhood education, play-based learning, and inclusive education. The process of turning ideas and policies into practice faced challenges due to difficult local conditions, the lack of a proper change management system and communication strategy, and absence of adequate evidence and data from the ground. Moreover, the reforms were pushed from the top without being coupled with a bottom-up approach here the school is the unit of reform.

17. National Geographic Learning Joins Education 2.0

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

National Geographic Learning entered a partnership with the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education in 2020 to provide books for Grades 4-6. The company’s cultural expert Tom Kelley describes how they developed materials in print and digital formats for the traditional subjects English and Social Studies, and two new subjects, Career Skills, and Information and Communication Technology. He explains the process of collaboration with the Center for Curriculum and Instructional Materials Development to ensure the books were suited to the local context and reflects on cultural and political sensitivities around Social Studies. He recalls the sense of pride for all involved in being able to offer Egyptian students high quality books with stunning visuals.

5. ‘We Break the Rules’

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

Deena Boraie, Senior Advisor for Assessment, Examinations, and Curriculum at the Ministry of Education (2017-2022), recounts how she joined the advisory team of the Minister of Education Tarek Shawki with a mission to ‘transform’, rather than ‘reform’ the education system. She explains their unorthodox approach to educational change and how they ‘broke the rules’ by, for example, foregoing piloting and consultations with the communities on the ground. She outlines the two main pillars of the reform, namely, to build a new curriculum and teaching methodology starting with the early primary years, and to change the structure and design of the Thanaweya Amma high school exit/university entrance exam which drives the system into rote memorization and superficial learning. While they succeeded with the former, the later faced public and political pushback and they were only able to make incremental inroads.

15. Nahdet Misr, Legacy Publisher for the New Arabic Textbooks

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

With the start of Education 2.0 reforms in 2017, the Ministry of Education and Technical Education commissioned the company Nahdet Misr, a leading Egyptian publisher since 1938, to develop the new textbooks for Arabic, Values and Respect for Others, and Christianity and Islam. It was the first time one publisher produced books for the two religions using a common framework and design. The company also developed a new methodology to teach the Arabic language that bridges the gap between classical and colloquial Arabic. Dalia Ibrahim, the company’s CEO, and Dahlia Fouad, Director of Educational Content and Translation, detail the differences between the old and new education systems, and emphasize the need to adapt to digital futures in education.

1. Introduction

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

In September 2018, Egypt’s Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MOETE) began rolling out elements of a ‘new education system’ or ‘Education 2.0’. This chronicle of Education 2.0 provides a rare glimpse into a state-led national education reform oriented towards digital transformation and infrastructure expansion, curriculum change and teacher Professional Development, and culture change. The chapter lays out the political, policy, and social context in which the reforms unfolded, happening in the wake of the Arab uprisings, and in keeping with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Africa Agenda 2063. The research draws on oral histories from the ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ with figures from the state, society, and international and private sector partners. It finds that in a rapidly changing, oftentimes harsh, and unpredictable world, it is imperative to continue to strive for a social contract in education oriented towards human dignity and a genuinely sustainable future, for our collective survival depends on it.

7. Envisioning a New Curriculum for the Primary Stage

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

Nelly El Zayat served as Advisor to the Minister of Education on Early Childhood Education and Educational Policy. She recounts how the advisory team initially started from a blank page to brainstorm what they considered the ideal attributes of graduates of Egypt’s education system. The new curriculum for the primary years incorporated elements from the International Baccalaureate, UNICEF’s Life Skills framework, and updated methodologies for teaching the Arabic language. Advisors worked with a range of partners from the private sector, international organizations, and the national curriculum center to develop the new books. Racing against time, and while juggling many commitments, they managed to launch the first set of new Education 2.0 books in the fall of 2018.

11. A Life in Education from Academia to the World Bank

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

Juan Manuel Moreno served as the Lead Education Specialist in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for the World Bank during the initial years of the Education 2.0 reforms. He reflects on his life in international education and ponders Egypt’s particularly securitized approach to its schools and the resilience of the Thanaweya Amma exam. He addresses misconceptions about the Bank and explains how it negotiates sectoral strategies with each country. He cautions that even with advances of digital transformation, nothing can replace the face-to-face school, classroom, and teacher, and stresses the value of research and data to diagnose problems and form an inclusive vision of education which is needed for a country’s future survival.