Two weeks into the academic year and students residing in the Cairo University dormitories are still reeling from accommodation problems and the inability to to have proper meals due to ongoing maintenance work on the cafeteria.
Despite a decision made by Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawy’s cabinet to exempt students from accommodation fees, the students were still asked to pay the fees in order reserve accomodation in the dormitories.
The students were also asked to sign declarations, accepting they will not receive meals until maintenance of the cafeteria has been completed. The declaration also stated that they will not receive snacks as they did over the past years, increasing financial burdens on the students.
Cairo University experienced protests and sit-ins over the past two weeks that led to the suspension of studying at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science after the university set a plan to provide accommodation to students over 35 days, rather than one week as earlier promised.
Mohamed Salem, the head of Cairo University’s students dormatories, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the students were required to pay accommodation fees because the university has not yet received official documents with the decision to exempt the students from fees. If the financial allocations and official correspondence in this regard is received, the students will be reimbursed their money, he said.
The university announced a schedule for accommodating the students based on their grades, whereby the students with the highest grades get accommodation first and the last freshmen because there are more than 15,000 students who should get accommodation this year, according to the university.
Mohamed al-Husseiny al-Toukhy, vice president of Ain Shams University for Education and Students Affairs, called on Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawy’s cabinet to provide an alternative to implement the decision to exempt students from accommodation fees, adding that the university pays more than 90 percent of the actual cost of accommodation at the hostel.
He added that the cost of accommodating one student reaches LE865 a month, of which the student pays only LE65 that is used in maintenance and to pay bonuses for employees at the hostel.
The situation at Helwan University did not differ much. Several students staged protests after students from Giza, Qalyubia, Saff and Atfeeh were denied accommodation. Accommodating the students has also been postponed until November, which is close to the end of the first term.
Yasser Saqr, Helwan University President, asked Giza Governor and the Minister of Transportation to provide buses to transport the students from Saff and Atfeeh to make room for residents of other areas at the university dormatories.
Samir al-Demerdash, vice president of Helwan University for students affairs, said the university budget does not have sufficient allocations to pay the students’ accommodation fees. Also, this payment might impact other activities at the university as well as eat up the university’s maintenance allocations.
Demerdash added that the cabinet was supposed to bear the cost of accommodating the students rather than the universities, according to the decision.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
