Secondary education consists of three tracks: general, vocational/technical and the dual-system vocational education known as Mubarak-Kohl schools. The general secondary stage includes 3 years of education, whereas the secondary vocational track could be for 3-5 years. To enter the secondary level, the students must pass a national exam which is given at end of the secondary stage. As of year 2004 the 77.3 percent of students completing preparatory stage are estimated to be enrolled in secondary education. At this level, students have formative and summative assessments during the first year and the average of the end of year national standardized exams for year two and three qualifies the students to take the Certificate of General Secondary Education-Thanawiya Amma, which is one of the requirements for admission into the universities. So far efforts are underway with the support of multilateral organizations to make the general and vocational secondary system less rigid and provide equal opportunities to students of various wealth quintiles in the two tracks to opt for higher education. This is also being implemented by the World Bank led secondary enhancement project in Egypt.
Secondary education consists of three different types: general, technical or vocational.
Technical education, which is provided in three-year and five-year programs, includes schools in three different fields: industrial, commercial and agricultural. The UN and other multilateral organizations are working towards improving the technical and vocational training system in Egypt. It is recommended to the Ministry of Education to introduce broad vocational skills in the curricula of general secondary schools. In this way students will be able to gain certification in practical skills needed in the job market. The Ministry of Education (MoE) controls pre-tertiary, school-based programs that can start after grade 6 and that enroll the largest number of students in TVET-over 2 million students. The Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) controls the middle technical institutes (MTIs). These draw their enrollments from MoE's general secondary schools or technical schools and have much smaller enrollment numbers. Graduates of the MoE's vocational programs can enter vocational training centers (VTCs). From the 2004 data, it is estimated that 30 percent of the secondary students have opted for the vocational track. Government of Egypt has undertaken some promising initiatives to strengthen the management and reform of the TVET system.In 2006 the Industrial Training Council (ITC) was created through a ministerial decree with a mandate to improve coordination and direction of all training related entities, projects and policies in the Ministry. Its action is framed by the global "Technical Education Strategy (2011/2012-2016/2017). The focus on technical education and training aims at resolving the issue faced by most firms to employ skilled work force: According to the Enterprise Surveys in 2007, 31 percent of the firms in Egypt identify labor skill level as the major constraint of doing business in the country.