(Photo by Basil El-Dabh)
Dozens of secondary students protested at the Ministry of Education on Wednesday morning, in support of fellow students.
Protesters supported student and former detainee Ahmed Taha, who was barred from taking school examinations, despite paying fees to do so. The student’s issue takes root in his nine-month absence from school, which began one and a half years ago.
Taha, who was arrested in October 2011 at the funeral of Essam Atta, had been detained for nine months without charge during which he was allegedly tortured and raped. Following his release, he was expelled from school due to his absenteeism and was not reinstated until September of last year after a protest in his support.
Students from Al-Saidia Secondary School also voiced criticism against the school’s administration and the Ministry of Education, at one point blocking the road in front of the ministry with a banner reading “a revolutionary student, my right is my demand”.
Five students were previously suspended for their participation in a protest at the school against a teacher who allegedly physically and verbally abused them.
“These people were protesting and we were protesting with them. The five suspended students aren’t allowed to enter the school, and the ministry hasn’t said anything up until now,” said Youssef, a student protesting in front of the ministry.
Student protesters claimed that they had demonstrated against their school on 19 February, when the five classmates were suspended.
The protesters also accused the school of financial corruption as well as renting the school’s facilities including a theater out to other establishments, rendering them inaccessible to the students at Al-Saidia.
