Education ‘home delivery’ in Egypt : private tutoring and social stratification

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between private tutoring in the preuniversity education sector and social class dynamics in Egypt. During the last three decades, tutoring has become an integral feature of the Egyptian education system. Students across all social strata participate in private and group lessons at home, larger study groups, and revision classes with ‘star teachers’ in tutoring centres. Despite growing disparities in lifestyle, schooling experiences, and opportunities, students’ choice of tutors and different forms of tutoring usually follow a common logic. I argue that, while unequal access to tutoring is likely to have a detrimental effect on equity, equality of opportunities has long been undermined by policies of privatisation and an increasing social segregation in the formal education sector.