Education outfit CIRA is giving parents whose children attend its schools tuition fee loans with a 12-month repayment period under a partnership agreement with Beltone’s consumer finance arm Belcash, the two companies said in a joint statement (pdf) yesterday. The pilot phase will be launched in seven schools with the rest to follow “shortly," CIRA CEO Mohamed El Kalla said.

Belcash will be “an optional method” added to the current payment models that CIRA provides, El Kalla added in the statement, adding that the move aims to “ease the burden of education tuition fees.” CIRA owns almost 21 schools in nine governorates in Egypt as well as a nursery outfit acquired in January, with plans for more this year.

More education finance in the pipeline? "Our agreement with CIRA is the first towards entering the education finance market whereby we will be pursuing several agreements with the biggest schools in Egypt,” Group CEO of Beltone Financial Holding Ibrahim Karam said.

GO DEEPER: Tuition loans have become increasingly popular among K-12 parents, and several banks have been working to push their products since the outbreak of the pandemic, as we found in a previous edition of our education vertical, Blackboard. The banking sector’s renewed drive to attract tuition loan customers followed the lead of e-payments and e-finance companies that are working directly with schools to facilitate tuition payments, a push that started with EFG Hermes’ valU and school operator GEMS.