"In Catalonia we are more disciplined, in Cairo they run away"

CairoThe opportunity to spend a few years in the land of the pharaohs doesn't come along often, so when it presented itself in 2022 to Alba Ruiz, a 34-year-old teacher from Mataró, and her husband, with whom they had just had a child, they decided to take advantage of it. He had been offered the option of temporarily moving to Egypt for work, and she requested a leave of absence from the school where she had been working for eight years, San José in her hometown, so she could travel. "It was now or never," she explains.

Initially, Alba remembers considering taking a few years off. But upon landing in Cairo, she changed her plans and began studying remotely for a master's degree in teaching Spanish as a foreign language. Soon, through an Egyptian acquaintance, she was offered a position as a collaborator at a university south of the capital, Helwan, so that students could learn the accent of a native speaker, and so she began working in her new country.

The following academic year, 2023-2024, the Mataronina native found yet another teaching position, this time at an elite American school, Metropolitan, in Nou Cairo, a satellite city of the capital where a large portion of its wealthy class and expatriate workers live. She was quickly hired, and this year she is in her second year, focusing on the subject of Spanish for students in grades equivalent to sixth grade of primary school, second and third years of secondary school, and first year of high school.

Continuing education

One of the first differences he notices from his experience in Catalonia is the monitoring and preparation required, typical of an elitist school. The rest spend their time "filling out paperwork."

Along these lines, Alba notes that the current school offers training courses constantly, whereas in Catalonia, she could take one course a year. "Here, [sometimes] the children don't come, and we all have teacher training, [for example] in new technologies," she explains. "It's true that it's very similar to what we already do in Spain, but here they really encourage" innovation, she emphasizes.

However, the case of the Metropolitan School in Nou Cairo is quite exceptional in Egypt, where only a very privileged minority has access to this type of international education. The public education system has been trapped in a deep crisis for years due to a lack of state investment, which has led to a severe shortage of schools—generally in very poor condition—an extreme shortage of teachers, and very high student-teacher ratios. It is one of the worst in the world.

Elitist and expensive schools

Alba notes that, in Egypt, private schools "are very expensive" and that prices can reach up to $6,000 a year, slightly less in euros. For the teacher from Mataró, this factor can be problematic for several reasons. "Here, they try to make everything very easy" for the students, she notes, while "in Catalonia, we are more disciplined and there's a culture of effort and of saying, 'Come on, we have to do our homework in the afternoon and study,' and here, however, they run away."

The school's elitist nature also affects the relationship with the administration. "[At Mataró] I've always felt incredibly supported by my management team; they've defended me first and then asked questions," she says. "Not here; you have to cover your own shoulders," she adds, so there's a lot of teacher turnover, largely due to the strain it entails. Judging by what a friend from a local school tells her, "behavior changes there, and respect for teachers is different."

One difference with Catalonia that she appreciates, however, is that at her current private school, they value the teacher's entire training and experience when negotiating working conditions. On the other hand, Alba notes that there is a significant difference between the salaries of foreign teachers and those in her own country, which can sometimes cause discomfort. "It's not that some work less and others more, but that, for the same work, some [earn] more, so that's unfair," she laments.

Regarding the language, the Mataró native comments that not speaking Arabic completely prevents her from always understanding her students, which can sometimes be frustrating. But she notes that, unlike other foreign teachers, she has an ace in the hole to win her students' sympathy: Barcelona. "They're soccer superfans, and they do sometimes say 'Força Barça' or other things they hear from the players," she explains. With this alone, "I've already earned that good relationship with them."