Egypt agrees to finance Japanese schools with $175.7M

CAIRO – 22 February 2018: Prime Minister Sherif Ismail witnessed the signing of a concessional financing agreement by the Japanese government in the framework of the Egyptian-Japanese Education Partnership Program to support and establish Japanese schools in Egypt with total support of $175.7 million.


The agreement was signed by Minister of Education Tarek Shawqi and Chairman of the Japanese International Cooperation Organization (JICA) Shinichi Keitao.


Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr has signed an exchange of notes on the concessional financing agreement of the government of Japan with Japanese Ambassador to Egypt Takihiro Kagawa.


The agreement aims to strengthen the Egyptian-Japanese educational partnership program by providing necessary support to the human resources working in the sector.


The provided support will develop the educational process through the transfer of Japanese expertise in the educational sector of Egypt at different age levels to improve the quality of educational services provided to students in Egyptian-Japanese schools.


During a visit to Japan in March 2016, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and announced a joint partnership in education, built upon applying the Japanese education model “Tokkatsu”, which consists of class activities, club activities, pupils' council activities and school events.


The Japanese education model was proven successful in 12 schools in 2016-2017 in Cairo, Giza and Qalyubia governorates, leading up to the decision to generalize the system, Chairman of the General Education Sector Reda Hegazy stated in April.

The Japanese experience has included ten activities a day, such as the collection of garbage by students once a day in the morning; monitoring the daily feeding habits of each student; heeding music, arts and painting; spreading awareness of personal hygiene; and developing teamwork skills.