Egypt, UNHCR discuss additional support to public schools hosting large numbers of refugee children

CAIRO – 5 November 2023: The Representative of the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to the Arab Republic of Egypt and to the League of Arab States, Dr. Hanan Hmadan, met with the Egyptian Minister of Education and Technical Education in Egypt, Dr. Reda Hegazy earlier this week.

During the meeting, Dr. Hamdan commended the role the Government of Egypt plays in providing access to education to the majority of refugees and asylum-seekers and acknowledged the challenges the Ministry of Education faces to sustain this access. She also highlighted the collaboration UNHCR has had with the Ministry over the past decades, through which a number of education and constructions projects valued at more than USD 6 million have been implemented.

His Excellency the Minister thanked UNHCR for its support and discussed some of the joint areas of collaboration through which UNHCR can provide additional support to public schools hosting large numbers of refugee children.

Very recently, UNHCR has supported the establishment of 15 computer labs in 15 public schools in and around Aswan, hosting refugee and Egyptian children. The intervention aimed at supporting the Ministry’s plans to enhance the use of digital equipment in schools, which contributes towards the achievement of the 2030 agenda of digitizing the education system across the country.

UNHCR has been working closely with MOE in Egypt to support public education in Egypt, which is currently provided to students from Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen at equal footing to Egyptians. In the 2022/2023 academic year, 60,482 refugee students were enrolled in public schools in all governorates.

During the past decade, UNHCR has collaborated with MOE on various projects which included providing support in construction and refurbishment of approximately 170 classrooms, establishing of 30 computer laboratories in 30 public schools, providing digital solutions through equipping 57 public schools with digital infrastructure through the Smart Classroom Project covering 720 classrooms in preparatory school level in addition to refurbishing and equipping 48 classrooms within the framework of the Instant Network Schools Project in partnership with Vodafone Foundation – which UNHCR is currently working with the Ministry on expanding.