عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Egypt Releases Students Detained over Rallies against New Education System

Egyptian students attend a secondary school class. (AFP file photo)
Egyptian students attend a secondary school class. (AFP file photo)
TT
TT

Egypt Releases Students Detained over Rallies against New Education System

Egyptian students attend a secondary school class. (AFP file photo)
Egyptian students attend a secondary school class. (AFP file photo)

Egyptian authorities released a number of secondary school students, who were detained for several hours after protesting against the new education system.

Security sources confirmed that Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Tawfiq “ordered the immediate release of all the students who were arrested and called for defusing the crisis,” which had provoked social anger.

Dozens of students demonstrated on Wednesday in Cairo, Suez, Gharbia and Ismailia, in front of the offices of the Ministry of Education and a number of schools to protest the failure of the electronic exam, calling for the abolition of the new education system.

Security forces arrested a number of these students to halt the demonstrations, which sparked widespread controversy, and great resentment among parents.

The number of students who were detained was unknown.

Some videos and pictures circulated on social media showed members of the security forces arresting students, amid the cries of their colleagues and parents.

Local media quoted security sources as saying that the interior minister had ordered the release of all the detainees to preserve students’ interests and in respect for human rights.

The exams for first-grade secondary students took place on Sunday in the first experiment of the electronic exam system using tablets. However, in many schools, the system was disrupted and the exam was postponed for an hour before some reverted to paper exams.

The Ministry of Education said it had taken the necessary precautions to compensate for the system’s failure, including the paper exam.

Education Minister Tariq Shawqi said: “There was a simple problem that was solved.”

Exams will continue until May 30.

On Wednesday, the second foreign language test could not be held electronically on the tablets, because the platform in several schools also failed. The schools resorted instead to the paper exam.

Students who participated in the protests said that the electronic exam system exposed them to injustice and wasted their time as they had to sit for the exam twice.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
TT
TT

Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”