Report finds progress in Egypt’s education reform, with students taught peace, tolerance

A new report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) notes significant progress in Egypt’s education reform, with 80% of schoolchildren now studying from revised textbooks. The changes promote peace, tolerance and coexistence while rejecting violence and extremism, IMPACT-se says.

The revised elementary curriculum has removed or restructured antisemitic and anti-Israel content. For instance, Israel is presented as a legitimate peace partner, and Christian Education textbooks reference Jewish historical connections to Jerusalem. Grade 9 students study the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, with students learning of the “advantages of peace for Egypt and the Arab states.”

However, prejudice persists in unrevised materials used in higher grades, which still depict Zionism negatively, the group says. These textbooks are slated for reform as part of Egypt’s ongoing 12-year curriculum overhaul, currently in its seventh year.