Cairo

This is a big market with thin public data. The International Schools Database lists 108 international schools in Cairo, 33 of them IB schools; a 2026 consultancy analysis counted about 105 across Egypt with fees spanning EGP 150,000-950,000 a year. But Egypt publishes no inspection ratings, several leading schools publish no fee schedule in English, and some widely quoted fee figures online are years out of date. Every number on this page carries its source and year — treat anything without one as folklore. ↗

The market runs on three distinct populations. Diplomatic and NGO families cluster around Cairo American College in Maadi; Egyptian upper-middle-class demand fills the British and American schools of New Cairo; and the west bank — Sheikh Zayed and 6th of October City — has its own fast-growing circuit around BISC, El Alsson NewGiza and the newer Hayah West campus. These barely overlap: a family that chooses a school in one cluster lives in that cluster. ↗

Alexandria is a separate market. If your posting is to Alexandria rather than Cairo, the default expat option is Schutz American School — reported 2025-26 tuition of EGP 600,000-750,000 (primary) and EGP 750,000-950,000 (secondary), from a single aggregator, so verify directly. Do not assume Cairo’s schools are commutable from Alexandria; they are 220 km apart. ↗

Egypt’s Ministry of Education and Technical Education licenses all private and international schools and approves their fee schedules. Since September 2023 it has enforced a tiered cap on annual tuition increases: schools charging EGP 100,000 or more are limited to 6 per cent, with larger permitted rises for cheaper schools, all the way to 25 per cent below EGP 6,000. The caps were kept in force for 2025-26 for a third consecutive year, and the Ministry has rejected school requests for above-cap increases. ↗

The rule expat parents most often miss: fees must be paid in Egyptian pounds. A ministerial decision prohibits all private schools, including international schools, from collecting tuition or any education-related payment — even international certificate validation and exam charges — in foreign currency. Schools that quote fees in US dollars or sterling (several do) must convert and collect in EGP, and violations can be referred under the Central Bank Law. If a school asks you to pay a dollar invoice into a foreign account, that is a red flag, not a perk. ↗

Two newer consumer rules matter for your budget. Bus fees are now limited to actual operating cost plus a 10 per cent margin, and schools can no longer force parents to buy uniforms from a designated vendor. Both target the add-on pricing that inflated the real bill beyond published tuition. ↗

What the Ministry does not give you is any quality signal: no inspections, no ratings, no published outcomes. For that, Cairo parents rely on international accreditation — COBIS, CIS, BSO/ISI inspections, the IB, the AEFE — which is why the verification toolkit at the end of this guide matters more here than in almost any other city we cover.

Cairo American College (CAC), Maadi. The diplomatic-community flagship: American diploma plus IB Diploma, and described as Cairo’s only US State Department-affiliated school. Its 2024/25 schedule ran from USD 9,000 (Pre-K3) and USD 14,000 (KG) to USD 26,100 by Grade 5 — about EGP 675,193 to EGP 1,258,938 — including books, activities and resources, plus a USD 390 application fee, a USD 1,000 admission fee, and bus fees of USD 1,000 inside Maadi or USD 1,800 outside. An aggregator put 2025-26 at EGP 650,000-800,000 (primary) and EGP 800,000-1,100,000 (secondary/IBDP). CAC’s own site carries a 2025-26 and 2026-27 fee selector — confirm the current year there before budgeting. ↗

The British International School, Cairo (BISC), 6th of October City. Established 1976, on its Beverly Hills campus since 2008; English National Curriculum with Cambridge IGCSE, then the IB Diploma — not A Levels — in Sixth Form, and one of Egypt’s few COBIS-accredited schools. Published 2025/26 tuition: EGP 439,449 (KG1) to EGP 1,148,934 (Year 12), plus a one-time EGP 171,125 supply fee and EGP 20,535 registration. ↗

New Cairo British International School (NCBIS). A non-profit British school — unusual in a mostly for-profit market — with the IB Diploma as an alternative to A Levels and a Dutch stream for primary. Published 2026/27 fees: EGP 544,925 (KG1) rising to EGP 998,106 (Year 12), plus a one-time registration fee of EGP 506,310 and a refundable EGP 40,000 deposit. Note the registration fee: it is one of the largest upfront charges in the market. ↗

Malvern College Egypt, New Cairo. Ages 2-18, about 850-920 students, IGCSE and A Levels plus the IB Diploma, operated by an Azazy Group company in partnership with Malvern College (UK). Listed fees of EGP 130,000-277,000 are widely quoted but look pre-devaluation — treat them as stale and ask the school for the current schedule; the Good Schools Guide notes no independent accreditation on file. ↗

Lycée Français du Caire. The AEFE-managed French flagship, roughly 1,600-2,000 students. Published 2026/27 tuition for French citizens: EGP 265,069 (primary) to EGP 445,781 (lycée), plus a one-time EGP 79,029 registration; other nationalities pay different rates (the Good Schools Guide lists EUR 4,728-10,547). For francophone families it is the default — and notably cheaper than the Anglo-American tier. ↗

The rest of the shortlist, as reported. Aggregator bands for 2025-26 — unverified against first-party schedules: Hayah International Academy (New Cairo, founded 2004, ~1,200 students, American diploma + IB, with a second campus, Hayah West, in Sheikh Zayed); Metropolitan School at EGP 85,000-190,000; Maadi British International School at EGP 373,000-858,000; Cairo English School at USD 9,800-17,900. The Deutsche Schule der Borromäerinnen serves the German-track community. For every one of these, the admissions office is the only reliable source — Cairo schools commonly quote fees only on request. ↗

Between March 2022 and March 2024 the Egyptian pound lost more than 70 per cent of its value against the US dollar — culminating in the March 2024 float, when the rate moved from about EGP 31 to about EGP 50 per dollar within days. It traded near EGP 51 in December 2024 and around EGP 47.6 in late November 2025. ↗

This cuts two ways, and parents feel both. If you earn in dollars, EGP-denominated fees became dramatically cheaper in hard-currency terms — a school that cost the equivalent of USD 20,000 in 2022 may cost USD 12,000 today at the same nominal EGP fee plus capped increases. If you earn in pounds — or your employer converted your package to EGP — the same fees rose steeply, because schools’ own costs (imported teachers, books, technology, food) are heavily dollar-linked, and the 6 per cent cap does not fully cover that inflation. Schools have responded with the add-ons: registration fees, supply fees and capital charges that sit outside the tuition cap. Model the all-in first year, not the tuition line.

Practical package advice. Ask your employer three questions before accepting: is the education allowance fixed in USD or EGP; does it track the school’s actual invoice or a notional cap set years ago; and who absorbs the exchange-rate movement between billing and payment? CAC quotes in dollars but — like every Egyptian school — must collect in EGP, so the rate applied on the day you pay is a real variable in your budget.

Cairo is not one school market; it is three, separated by some of the worst urban traffic on earth. Cross-city commutes of 45 minutes to two hours are routine, so the rule here is absolute: choose the cluster first, the school second, the housing third. ↗

Maadi is the classic diplomatic enclave: leafy, walkable by Cairo standards, and built around CAC, with Maadi British International School as the British alternative. US diplomatic post reports describe families in compounds with backup generators — power and water outages in leased housing are a recurring theme — and embassy commutes of 30-75 minutes. The trade-off: Maadi is a bubble, and it sits far from the newer employment hubs. ↗

New Cairo (5th Settlement) has the densest supply: NCBIS, Malvern College Egypt, Hayah, Modern English School, Cairo English School, Metropolitan, GEMS International and the AISE East campus. Newer, cleaner, more compound living — and far from downtown. Sheikh Zayed and 6th of October, west of the Nile, host BISC, El Alsson NewGiza, Hayah West and a wave of newer campuses including Kent College West and Haileybury Cairo; families working on the west bank or in Smart Village choose this side and never cross the river at rush hour.

The main intake is September, and the established schools open admissions early: both CAC and BISC open new admissions in November for the following academic year. Popular year groups at the flagships fill well before summer — applying from abroad, before you have housing, is normal and expected. ↗

Expect an application fee (CAC’s is USD 390; NCBIS charges EGP 6,751, deductible from fees), an age-appropriate assessment, and a substantial one-time charge on acceptance — CAC’s admission fee is USD 1,000, BISC’s supply fee is EGP 171,125, and NCBIS’s registration fee is EGP 506,310. Age cut-offs typically key to October (CAC’s KG1 requires age 3 years 10 months by October). Mid-year entry is genuinely possible: diplomatic and corporate churn means places open at every term, and the large New Cairo supply acts as the pressure valve. NCBIS, notably, accepts only foreign-passport or dual-national students — check eligibility rules before you apply anywhere. ↗

With no Egyptian inspection regime, due diligence falls to you. The toolkit that works here:

• Embassy lists first. The British Council in Cairo publishes lists of UK-curriculum attached schools; the US State Department’s Office of Overseas Schools recognises CAC; the AEFE directory covers the Lycée Français and partner French schools. If a school claims a national affiliation, verify it on that government’s own list — not the school’s brochure.
• Accreditation bodies. COBIS (BISC is a member), CIS, the IB’s school finder, and BSO/ISI inspection reports where they exist. An ISI or BSO report is the closest thing Cairo has to a KHDA-style rating — ask the school for its most recent one and read it.
• Parent networks. Cairo’s expat Facebook groups (Maadi and New Cairo each have active communities), InterNations and r/Egypt carry current fee quotes and candid school feedback — invaluable, but treat every figure as a lead to verify, not a fact.
• Ask for the paper. Every licensed school must display its Ministry-approved fee schedule. If a school will not show you the approved schedule and the accreditation documents on request, walk away.

Every fee figure and policy claim above traces to our Cairo research dossier. First-party and regulatory: the CAC tuition page, Egypt’s Ministry of Education measures as reported by EnterpriseAM, and the Andersen Egypt legal analysis of the EGP-only collection rule. Aggregators used with grading: the International Schools Database (BISC, NCBIS, Lycée fee tables), Egypt International Schools, Tutopiya, Scholae, and the Good Schools Guide. Currency data from financial press and FX providers. Expat texture from US diplomatic post reports via TalesMag — attributed as reported experience, not fact.

Cairo’s data is thinner than any Gulf market we cover, and fees move with the exchange rate. This page was researched on 2 September 2026 and is re-verified each academic year — see our research standard for how claims are graded, and corrections if you spot something stale.