ABSTRACT
Introduction e events that have been shaping the world since 9/11/2001 have brought into sharp focus democratization and governance issues in the Middle East, issues which are themselves critically intertwined with questions of culture. International aid is highly controversial. It is already deemed by supporters to be a means for positive transformation, while opponents view it as a source of increased foreign control and domination. ese controversies increasingly occupy centre stage of domestic politics in Egypt. Nowhere are the debates around culture more heated, however, than in the domain of education. In fact education has been recognized as a fundamental agent of social and economic development and poverty alleviation in developing countries and has attracted increased attention from the Bretton Woods1 institutions (the World Bank and Intentional Monetary Fund) as well as international development assistance agencies since the 1990s. e international commitment for the Education For All (EFA) objectives was rst launched in Jomtien, ailand in 1990 ‘to bring the benets of education to every citizen in every society.’ International consensus for the EFA objectives was re-conrmed in Dakar, Senegal in April 2000 and again in September 2000 (World Bank, 2009).
