History of Education in Egypt

Modern education was introduced under the auspices of Ottoman Pasha Muhammad Ali during the early 1800s. He started a dual system of education at the time: one serving the masses attending traditional Islamic schools (Kuttab) and another called Madrasa (Arabic word for school) for the elite civil servants. The Kuttab taught students the basics of reading and writing through memorizing and reciting Qur'anic verses with no emphasis on experimentation, problem solving or learning-by-doing; while the Madrasa offered a more modern educational pedagogy.