Linda Herrera

Global Middle East

2021-02-23 · 1 citations

11. A Life in Education from Academia to the World Bank

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

Juan Manuel Moreno served as the Lead Education Specialist in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for the World Bank during the initial years of the Education 2.0 reforms. He reflects on his life in international education and ponders Egypt’s particularly securitized approach to its schools and the resilience of the Thanaweya Amma exam. He addresses misconceptions about the Bank and explains how it negotiates sectoral strategies with each country. He cautions that even with advances o…

1. Introduction

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

In September 2018, Egypt’s Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MOETE) began rolling out elements of a ‘new education system’ or ‘Education 2.0’. This chronicle of Education 2.0 provides a rare glimpse into a state-led national education reform oriented towards digital transformation and infrastructure expansion, curriculum change and teacher Professional Development, and culture change. The chapter lays out the political, policy, and social context in which the reforms unfolded, happe…

2. Becoming and Being the Minister of Education

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

Tarek Shawki was unexpectedly called into government service to chair the Specialized Presidential Council for Education and Scientific Research while he was Dean of the School of Sciences and Engineering at the American University in Cairo. In 2017, the president appointed him Minister of Education and Technical Education to lead a comprehensive national education reform, ‘Education 2.0’. Shawki recalls his own quality public education in Egypt and Syria in the 1960s and 1970s, and his desire t…

25. The Rise, Fall, and Aftermath of Take-Home Research Projects

Open Book Publishers · 2025-11-17

In March 2020, schools across Egypt closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MOETE) cancelled the traditional end-of-year in-school exams in the transitional years of Grades 3-9 and replaced them with a take-home research project. The very idea of a project went against deeply engrained norms and practices around assessments. This chapter traces the rise, fall, and aftermath of the research projects. It draws on official Ministry communication and s…