Two shoulder straps held the dress up.

Some people believe the evidence should be accepted at face value and assert that the dress was worn with the breasts exposed. Others argue that the narrow strap was an artistic convention only and that in real life the shoulder straps were wide enough to cover the breasts. All of the figurines and the few surviving dresses support the latter view. It should be noted that the Ancient Egyptians would certainly not have regarded a bare breast as immodest.

A popular variant of this dress had a short sleeved top with a gathered neck opening to replace the straps

In the New Kingdom many men and women adopted a robe which could be draped in various ways. Two rectangular pieces of cloth, each about four feet by five feet and sewn together along along the narrow end, leaving a space for the neck. The basic outfit was easy to make and could be worn by a man or a woman depending on what was done next. Once the dress was on her, a woman would lift the two bottom corners, bring them around to the front and knot them under the breasts. The robe was often worn with vertical pleats. The most important of all the fashion accessories was the wig. Shiny, black hair, perhaps because of its association with youth and vitality, was associated with eroticism, and artificial hair was a simple way to maintain what nature neglected. Wigs served a more practical function, however. Natural hair that was thick enough to protect the wearer from the direct rays of the sun on a bright summer day or keep the heat in on a cold winter night, was much too hot to wear indoors, and a luxuriant hair-do was a breeding ground for lice. The compromise was simple: Egyptians who could afford it cut their hair short and then wore a wig. Unlike many toupee wearers of today, the Egyptians were quite proud of their wigs and made no attempt to pretend they were natural. Paintings and sculpture frequently show an area of natural hair between the forehead and the wig. While the most expensive wigs were made with real, human hair, the design and structure were such that it would be almost impossible to confuse a wig with the real thing. Egyptians were proud of their wigs and would have been distressed at the thought that someone might think they were not wearing one---or even worse, could not afford one.

The full costume of Cleopatra dressed as Venus has almost become an icon. It is obvious from this much renowned tale that Egyptian women; at least Cleopatra, was well aware of how to use ancient Egypt fashion to its full advantage. Costumes Egyptian Cleopatra wore never fail to elicit a response and as a result, historical Cleopatra costumes have become quite popular. The pharonic headdress quite commonly seen in depictions of Egyptian kings was just one of the many headdresses common to ancient Egyptian fashions. The various gods of Egyptian mythology all also had their own headdresses and women also commonly styled their hair in elaborate fashions and donned headdresses; although not of such an elaborate style. While fashions of ancient Egypt may well be thousands of years old, age has not stopped modern day fashion inspired by ancient Egyptian clothing. Jeweled sandals, fabric featuring hieroglyphics and scarab jewelry are just a few of the modern day fashions that have taken a twist on ancient Egyptian costumes. Fashion

The clothes were generally made of linen and kept simple: a short loincloth resembling a kilt for men, a dress with straps for women. These basic garments with minor variations accounting for fashion, social status and wealth did not change fundamentally throughout Egypt's history. Very little sewing was done. The cloth was wrapped round the body and held in place by a belt. Its colour was generally whitish, in contrast to the colourful clothes foreigners wore in Egyptian depictions, although dyed cloth was not unknown. Egypt has the largest overall education system in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and it has grown rapidly since the early 1990s. In recent years the Government of Egypt has accorded even greater priority in improving the education system. According to the Human Development Index (HDI), Egypt is ranked 123 in the HDI, and 7 in the lowest 10 HDI countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa, in 2009. With the help of World Bank and other multilateral organizations Egypt aims to increase access in early childhood to care and education and the inclusion [1] of ICT at all levels of education, especially at the tertiary level. The government is responsible for offering free education at all levels. The current overall expenditure on education is about 12.6 percent as of [2] 2007. Investment in education as a percentage of GDP rose to 4.8 in 2005 but then fell to 3.7 in 2007. The Ministry of education is also tackling with a number of issues: trying to move from a highly centralized system to offering more autonomy to individual institutions, thereby increasing accountability. The personnel management in the education also needs to be overhauled and teachers should be hired on merit with salaries attached to the performance.Egyptain education is highly confusing, so if your doing a rport, change your topic before its too late! The public education system in Egypt consists of three levels: the basic education stage for 414 years old: kindergarten for two years followed by primary school for six years and preparatory school for three years. Then, the secondary school stage is for three years,for ages 15 to 17, followed by the tertiary level. Education is made compulsory for 9 academic years between the ages of 6 and 14. Moreover, all levels of education are free in any government run schools. According to theWorld Bank, there are great differences in educational attainment of the rich and the poor, also known as the wealth gap. Although the median years of school completed by the rich and the poor is only one or two years but the wealth gap reaches as high as nine or ten years. In the case of Egypt, the wealth gap was a modest 3 years in [3] the mid1990s. Overall, the composite education Index in the MENA Flagship Report: The Road Not Traveled showed promising results of Egypts relative educational achievements. Of the 14 MENA countries analyzed, Egypt achieved the universal primary education and has also reduced the gender gap [4] at all levels of instruction, but there is still a need to improve the quality of education. Egypt launched its National Strategic Plan for Pre-University Education Reform (2007/08 [5] 2011/12). The Strategic Plan (which has the subtitle Towards an educational paradigm shift) mirrors Egypts commitment to a comprehensive, sustainable, and collective approach towards ensuring an education of quality for all and developing a knowledge society. Its key elements are: access and participation; teachers; pedagogy; curriculum and learning assessment; textbooks and learning materials; [6] management and governance; and a quality improvement strategy. Promotional examinations are held at all levels except in grades 3, 6 and 9 at the basic education level and the grades 11 and 12 in the secondary stage, which apply standardized regional or national exams. The Ministry of Education is responsible for making decisions about the education system with the support of three Centers: the National Center of Curricula Development, the National Center for

Education Research, and the National Center for Examinations and Educational Evaluation. Each center [7] has its own focus in formulating education policies with other state level committees. On the other hand, the Ministry of Higher Education supervises the higher education system. There is also a formal teachers qualification track in place for basic and secondary education levels. The teachers are required to complete four years of pre-service courses at university to enter the teaching profession. Specifically with respect to teachers professional development to raise mathematics, science and technology teaching standards, the Professional Academy for Teachers offer several programs. [8] Local teachers also take part in the international professional training programs. Starting in 2007, the Ministries of Education, Finance, and Local Development (and others) started informal discussions to experiment with the decentralization of education. Working groups were established to make more formal proposals. Proposals included ideas for starting with recurrent expenditures, using a simple and transparent formula for carrying out fiscal transfers, and making sure that transfers would reach the school itself. During 2008 design was carried out, three pilot governorates (Faiyum, Ismailia, and Luxor) were chosen, and monitoring and capacity building processes and manuals were agreed upon. The formula is quite simple, and includes enrolment, poverty, and stage of education as drivers. During 2009 funding was decentralized all the way to the school level, and schools began to receive funding. As of late 2009, the pilot showed few if any problems, and the expected results were materializing quite well, in terms of stimulating community participation, allowing schools to spend more efficiently and assess their own priorities, and increasing the seriousness of school-based planning by creating a means to finance such plans, among other expected results. An informal assessment of the pilot revealed that the funding formula money precipitated an increase in community donations. The survey results show that the ratio of the median values of community donations of the pilot year to the previous year was 2.20. Parallel to these efforts in the education sector, other sectors (for example, certain aspects of housing and municipal services) in Egypt are planning to decentralize decision-making and spending, now nation-wide (without a pilot stage in limited governorates), in a phased approach. Education plans to be one of the lead sectors in this process. In addition to administrative and financial decentralization, there is an increasing emphasis on involving elected local popular councils (which exist at governorate and district level) in the horizontal oversight of expenditure and planning across the decentralizing sectors, and as they come on stream in the decentralization process. Within the education sector, as of late 2009 plans are being made to decentralize certain lines of funding and planning for capital equipment and infrastructure, in all governorates, all the way to school level in the case of smaller units of capital equipment, or levels higher than the school for items such as new infrastructure. The education sector does expect to continue to use the original 3 pilot governorates as a special observatory [9] [10] to assess and understand how well the process is proceeding. [edit]History of Education in Egypt Modern education was introduced under the auspices of Ottoman Pasha Muhammad Ali during the early 1800s. He started a dual system of education at the time: one serving the masses attending traditional Islamic schools (Kuttab) and another called Madrasa (Arabic word for school) for the elite civil servants. The Kuttab taught students the basics of reading and writing through memorizing and reciting Quranic verses with no emphasis on experimentation, problem solving or learning-by-doing; while the Madrasa [11][12] offered a more modern educational pedagogy.

Official language The official language of Egypt is the literary Arabic and is used in most written media. Egyptian Arabic is the commonly spoken language, and is occasionally written in Arabic script or Latin script. English, French, [citation needed] and German are also widely spoken and used in business and educated circles. Egypt /idpt/ (Arabic: , Mir, Egyptian Arabic: [ms ] ; Coptic: , Kmi ; Sahidic Coptic: , Kme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: (helpinfo), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west. Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its over 81 million [3] people live near the banks of theNile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo,Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta. Monuments in Egypt such as the Giza pyramid complex and its Great Sphinx were constructed by its ancient civilization. Its ancient ruins, such as those of Memphis, Thebes, and Karnak and the Valley of the Kings outside Luxor, are a significant focus of archaeological study. The tourismindustry and the Red Sea Riviera employ about 12% of Egypt's workforce. The economy of Egypt is one of the most diversified in the Middle East, with sectors such as tourism, agriculture, industry and service at almost equal production levels. In early 2011, Egypt underwent a revolution, which resulted in the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years in power.
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