Egypt contemplates doing away with printed textbooks

CAIRO — Hala Abu Saad, parliament member and representative of Egypt's Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Committee, submitted a proposal to parliament April 5 to halt the printing of free textbooks and instead make them available in electronic format. The proposal is designed to spare the state the printing cost, which is estimated at 1.8 billion Egyptian pounds ($100 million), and curb the 2016/2017 fiscal year budget deficit of 319.46 billion pounds ($17.5 billion).

The proposal has sparked debate in parliament. While some lawmakers have welcomed the idea as a way to keep up with technological advancements and make good use of modern technologies to save and efficiently allocate taxpayers’ money, others rejected it, citing concerns about the availability of resources such as internet access and equipment in computer labs.