School Education

The strong correlation between a good education and development has long been established. A good education enables people to develop their socio-economic, psychological and cultural attitudes; providing them with tools for informed citizen participation; and facilitating their ability to adopt basic health measures, especially among girls. When they become mothers, they will provide proper education and health care for their children.

Poverty and under development of rural areas in Egypt – manifested in the absence of some basic services such as education, health and employment – have resulted in the migration of many people to cities, resulting in the creation of many over-crowded slum areas. People moving to such areas become socially rootless, culturally isolated, politically powerless and economically marginalized. For this, it is important to provide Upper Egyptian villages with the basic services and opportunities.

Since its establishment in 1940, THE ASSOCIATION OF UPPER EGYPT FOR EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT (AUEED) has an uninterrupted mission of providing quality education in poor villages and towns in Upper Egypt as a means for community development. In addition, through providing education, AUEED is able to disseminate the values of peace, tolerance, solidarity, citizenship and respect of differences. Hence, forming generations of children and youth who internalize and practice those values in their daily lives and contribute to the development of their communities and in the Egyptian society.

Owning and managing 35 schools in the poorest villages in Upper Egypt serving 12500 children annually, AUEED is considered the biggest provider of Low-Cost Private Schooling (LCPSs) in Egypt with an extended geographic coverage and from Menya to Luxor. They target mostly disadvantaged children in order to help them acquire basic knowledge, practical and technical skills together with an attitude of openness, initiative-taking and responsibility as it believes that education is not limited to knowledge dissemination and pedagogy but a way of children formation: socially, morally, psychologically and culturally. Teachers’ Training and staff formation workshops are organized for that purpose.

In addition, AUEED works on actively involving parents in the education process through regular parents’ meetings and activation of Parents/Teachers’ Associations (PTAs) or Boards of Trustees (BoTs) activation to play a role in the decision making, resource mobilization and development of the schools as wells in the proper upbringing of their children.

Since 2010, AUEED started accreditation of its schools, whereby 14 schools were accredited by the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education (NAQAAE). Recently, 9 of those schools renewed their accreditation (5 years after). AUEED also submitted the files of 2 new schools for accreditation after (construction, equipment, training, activities, etc.). AUEED also works with other schools to meet the minimum standards.

PACHE, as the Canadian partner of AUEED, co-finances 35 primary and some secondary schools owned and managed by the (AUEED). In 2023, enrollment in these schools reached 15,000 and they have a constant need for funds to cover school expenses and equipment.