Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi approved Thursday a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) loan agreement with the Egyptian government to the tune of 18.626 billion Japanese yen (~$160 million) for the Egypt-Japan Education Partnership and Egypt-Japan School (EJS) Support Programme.

The programme loan for the education sector will foster policy implementation and institutional building toward the opening of Egypt-Japan School branches, which the government is advancing.

The initiative aims to introduce Japanese-style education in Egypt, improving the quality of education and building the capacities of Egypt's youth.

The schools were scheduled to open last October before the Egyptian Ministry of Education postponed studies to be better prepared and ensure a sufficient level of quality and selection criteria, the ministry said at the time.

The project, which aims to create 100 such schools, was agreed on during El-Sisi's visit to Japan in February 2016.

Under a cooperation protocol signed between Egypt and Japan in 2017, Japan is providing the necessary technical support for the project.

Some 35 Japanese schools opened their doors 2 July for enrolment of students in the academic year 2018/2019.