Basic skills provide the base for fruitful learning as well as being directly applicable in the labour market. Such problems (often unrecognised) may increase the risk of drop-out, and reduce the prospect of further career development and lifelong learning. Vocational programmes need to give sufficient weight to these skills, and students may often need to be assessed at the point of entry to vocational programmes so as to ensure a basic minimum of skills and identify those in need of targeted support. This is a challenge that Egypt shares with many other countries and international experience might help, for example, when trying to prevent people leaving education before completing compulsory education (Box 5.1).