New education wage package: Who gets left behind?

A government plan to raise salaries across Egypt’s school system drew cautious praise from education and economic experts as a “positive step,” but they warned it remains insufficient to withstand soaring inflation, secure a decent standard of living, or bridge deep administrative rifts created by excluding broad categories of school staff.

The ministries of finance and education unveiled a joint package yesterday setting salary increases across the next two fiscal years between 5,000 and 6,000 Egyptian pounds ($90–$110). Under the plan scheduled for rollout next July, assistant teachers will receive an annual boost of 2,500 pounds, while senior teachers will receive 3,000 pounds.

Mohamed Zahran, founder of the Teachers’ Independence Movement, argued that while the increase is fundamentally sound in principle, it lacks procedural justice by targeting a narrow segment of the workforce. 

Raises must cover all school employees without exception, including per-class instructors, daily wage laborers, social workers, school psychologists, administrative staff, and educational activity teachers, Zahran explained.

“Restricting the raise solely to the classroom teacher as the core pillar while disregarding specialists makes no sense,” Zahran told Al Manassa. “Educational and social activities form an integral, complementary component of school curricula.”

Zahran noted that non-classroom staff already endure systemic exclusion from both the “development” and “teaching” financial incentives granted to their classroom counterparts. 

Pre-university education instructors across general, technical, and Al-Azhar institutions totaled 1.3 million during the 2025/26 academic year, according to a recent report issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

From an economic perspective, Sherine Al-Shawarby, professor of economics and political science at Cairo University, affirmed that teachers deserve substantially larger pay hikes that guarantee a decent standard of living. 

She questioned whether the proposed increments can hold out against inflation rates projected over the next two fiscal years or whether real price pressures will hollow out their purchasing power upon disbursement.

Although the figures represent an important move, they remain inadequate to ensure a decent life capable of weaning teachers off reliance on private tutoring networks, Al-Shawarby explained to Al Manassa. 

She pointed out that the cabinet’s ultimate target of raising salaries to 15,000 pounds ($270) after two years represents the bare minimum acceptable “living wage,” falling far short of a truly decent income.

The economics professor voiced serious reservations regarding the financing mechanisms underpinning the raises, urging authorities not to secure funds through expanded debt that strains the state treasury. 

She simultaneously warned against private school operators offloading wage increases for their own staff onto parents by hiking tuition fees.

Al-Shawarby pressed for comprehensive structural reforms that link wages directly to economic growth capable of generating sustainable, dignified jobs across all skill levels in the labor market.

Addressing the concrete mechanics of price increases, Maye Kabil, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), outlined the tangible toll inflation takes on wage policies.

“If we assume annual inflation over the coming two years hovers around 15%, this implies that the nominal value of the current minimum wage must rise to 10,500 pounds,” Kabil told Al Manassa. “Consequently, the announced package may slightly outpace price hikes, provided inflation holds at current levels without sudden spikes.”

Yet the human rights researcher warned that mounting pressures on the Egyptian pound’s exchange rate alongside regional and global escalations could spark aggressive inflationary waves that render the wage bump practically inconsequential.

Headline inflation ticked up in September to 12.8% compared to 12.7% in August, driven by a 15.1% spike in vegetable prices and a 2.5% increase in meat and poultry costs, according to a CAPMAS bulletin published on Oct. 10.

For Kabil, the primary unresolved question remains operational fairness: “What percentage of teachers actually earns the minimum wage across the public education system today? And does the government’s plan guarantee that all sector employees reach that baseline without geographic or occupational carve-outs?”