Al-Masry Al-Youm has studied five schools in Cairo, Minya, Qena, Menoufiya and Kafr al-Sheikh that are almost empty of the students as many prefer to take private lessons, believing school is a waste of time.
At 8:30 am, Mohamed Shaaban, who lives in Imbaba, hears the students of the nearby school fighting. He goes down to stop the scuffle but ends up soaked in his blood after he was assaulted by a student. It was not shocking to the residents of the area, for they are accustomed to this everyday.
Mohamed is 17 years old, but is still a student of the Al-Manar Secondary School because he was expelled several times for not showing up. “Classrooms are congested with more than 60 students and teachers are bad,” he says. “I will apply for associate student and study from home.”
Abdo is 60 years old. He is the security guard of the youth center that is adjacent to the Al-Mostaqbal School in Imbaba. He says students throw things at him and make fun of him all the time. “The young no longer respect the old,” he says.
Megahed works for a factory also adjacent to the school. “The students harass the girls working here after they finish their shifts and go out,” he says. “The headmaster says he cannot do anything about it because it is outside the school premises.”
A recent study conducted by the Education Ministry on the reasons why students skip classes, one of the main reasons was because there are no playgrounds for sports activities, as schools are forced to build classrooms over them to absorb the large number of students.
The study also showed that 30 percent of public school teachers are not qualified, while the percentage of qualified private school teachers went up from 50 percent to 60 percent in the last five years.
Although Khaled was expelled from school because he did not show up for a whole month, he did not tell his mother. “I take my books for my mother to see my while leaving home in the morning,” he says. “But I go to play football with my friends in front of the school.”
Rehab goes to school escorted by her mother so that she is not harassed. She had to study from home when her mother broke her leg.
Moaz wonders why he should go to school if the government would not be able to secure him a job later. He prefers to smoke cigarettes and chase girls. “My brother graduated from university four years ago and still my parents give him pocket money because he cannot find a job,” he says.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
