ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a brief update on the global context of education reform and its guiding principles. It provides a critical review of the education policy orientation in the Arab world compared to other countries. The Arab Spring placed the social justice agenda at the center of public discourse, and with it the urgency of advancing education, health, and economic opportunity. One compelling theme in the global debate on education reform is the imperative of integrating 21st-century skills. The education-reform agendas in the world's leading economies, whether in the USA, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Singapore, India, or China – and the list goes on – have been focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) excellence in education. While Egypt has achieved excellent improvements in access to basic education over the past decade, its free public-basic education system endures significant inequities and inefficiencies.
