With Egypt in limbo, schools crumbling. In some areas of Egypt, schools look more like rank penitentiaries rather than hubs of learning.
While Egypt struggles to wade through political problems, its education system suffersLiteracy rates are low and unemployment is high, especially among femalesMany middle-class families are spending a large part of their income on private tutoringA few start-up companies have emerged, however, to address the education deficit Editor's note: Lauren E. Bohn is a multiplatform journalist and assistant editor of the Cairo Review whose reporting is made possible in part by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Qena, Egypt (CNN) -- In a deserted playground a few hundred miles south of Cairo, 13-year-old Asmaa Ashraf fiddles with a broken rusted slide.
She is waiting listlessly for a lesson with her math tutor. Schaduf - Le Caire - Agriculture/Agriculture. Egypte: l’excision en chute libre, enfin. Egypt's homosexuals struggle for freedom - Analyses - Aswat Masriya. By Menna Amr Fifty-two men were arrested on May 11, 2001, on Queen Boat, a gay nightclub on the Nile in Cairo, in one of the most publicized police raids against homosexuals in Egypt. Out of the accused, many of whom were tortured and raped while detained, 23 were convicted for debauchery and defaming Islam and sentenced to up to five years in prison with hard labour.
To make matters worse, national media published their names, photographs and professions to publicly humiliate them, dubbing them “Cairo52”. Twelve years later and in honor of the Queen Boat incident, gay rights activists in Egypt decided to mark May 11 as the “Egyptian Day Against Homophobia” (EDAHO), one week before the International Day Against Homophobia, which lies on May 17. During this week, activists have launched an online campaign urging their supporters all over the world to tweet and blog their solidarity for the gay community’s rights.
Queen Boat Survivor. The 6th Stage of grief. Mahmoud Salem On a relatively hot summer night, in lieu of nothing, a bunch of revolutionary friends were discussing the state of gloom that has befallen the majority of the population, and came up with a theory: We have all gone through the five stages of grief throughout this revolution. The Denial phase started with the first army attack on the square in March; the Anger Phase started at the 8 April attack until Mohamed Mahmoud Clashes in November; the Bargaining Phase started with the parliamentary elections (vote or boycott) until the presidential elections (vote for which loser/boycott/invalidate) and ended with the constitutional declaration; and then the Depression Phase started in earnest. The debate centred on whether we have entered the Acceptance Phase or whether that will happen if the military commits a coup. I stayed out of the debate, since I was already at stage six, and been there for a while: Moving on and enjoying life.
How come? Al-Azhar to 'counter extremism' with own TV channel. Al-Azhar to 'counter extremism' with own TV channel Egypt's religious establishment to promote moderate version of Islam as counterweight to proliferation of extremist satellite channels. Book review: Al-Azhar looking for a new role in Egypt - Review - Books. Book review: Al-Azhar looking for a new role in Egypt Researcher George Fahmi analyses official statements of the oldest religious institution in Egypt to see how its role transformed after the January 25 Revolution Mahmoud El-Wardani, Sunday 2 Jun 2013 Haii a’la al hurreya ..
Pour avoir le dernier mot. L'institution sunnite Al-Azhar prépare le lancement de sa première chaîne satellite, afin de « combattre le fanatisme et défendre l’islam centriste ». As Egypt Birthrate Rises, Population Policy Vanishes. Egyptian birth rate jumps in 2012. Artistic revolution follows 2011 uprising in Egypt. Earlier this month, three artists could be seen dancing in a street in downtown Cairo. It was not just any street. This was the pavement outside the Egyptian stock exchange – the very spot that, a day later, would be the meeting point for demonstrators protesting against Egypt's government. The dancers were part of the second annual Downtown contemporary arts festival (D-Caf) and in an area more often associated with protests, teargas and police brutality, they wanted to show that downtown, and the act of free expression, could be about more than just political demonstrations.
Culture - Egypt’s powerful street art packs a punch. Astonishing work has been emerging from a new generation of Egyptian street artists.
Influenced by ancient culture and contemporary politics, they are delivering potent messages of protest. Alastair Sooke surveys the scene and meets a major player. Egyptian Fighters Join 'Lesser Jihad' in Syria. Mohammed al-Zawahri (C), leader of Salafi Jihad in Egypt, takes part in a demonstration on Jan. 18, 2013 in Cairo.
The brother of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri told Al-Monitor that he does not discourage Islamists from going to Syria to fight, but said Egypt still needs them for its own jihad. (photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Gianluigi Guercia) Author: Mohamed Fadel Fahmy Posted April 17, 2013. Egypt's 6 April joins signature drive against President Morsi. Egypt's 6 April joins signature drive against President Morsi.
Tamarod collects over two million signatures. Tamarod campaign announced it had collected 2,029,592 signatures in a press conference on Sunday(Photo Courtesy of Tamrod campaign) Tamarod campaign announced on Sunday it had collected 2,029,592 signatures throughout Egypt, withdrawing confidence in Mohamed Morsi as president.
Tamarod, or “Rebellion”, is a petition campaign that was launched in late April to gather signatures disapproving of President Morsi. The campaign is also calling for early presidential elections. 'Rebel' Egyptian Movement Defies Morsi Through Petitions. GIZA, Egypt — "The Rebel Movement announces that it is collecting signed petitions calling for confidence withdrawal from the illegitimate President Mohammed Morsi. " In the middle of the infamously noisy and overcrowded Giza Square, a group of 15 activists started to repeat their announcement through a megaphone, carrying thousands of copies of the petition and a stock of extra pens Monday.
"We are fed up with this tyrant! Egypt's anti-Morsi 'Rebel' campaign: An inside look. Founders of Egypt’s 'Rebel' campaign, a newly established movement that aims to withdraw confidence from President Mohamed Morsi by collecting citizens' signatures, spoke at an open forum on Wednesday to discuss the campaign, which has recently gone viral online and on the streets. 'Rebel' campaigners hope to collect 15 million signatures and hold a mass sit-in on 30 June – marking the end of Morsi's first year as president – to call for snap presidential elections and force Morsi out of office.
They appear confident that voters will not choose a Muslim Brotherhood candidate – or one associated with the former regime – this time around, but rather one representing Egypt's 2011 revolution. Giza Women Form All-Female List For Egyptian Elections. Women queue at a polling station to vote in the second and final round of a referendum on Egypt's new constitution, in Giza, south of Cairo, Dec. 22, 2012.
(photo by REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah) Author: Zenobia Azeem Posted April 8, 2013 On March 6, a Cairo administrative court ruled the election laws unconstitutional, suspending parliamentary elections slated to start in late April. The decision came after the Shura Council bypassed submission of the revised electoral-laws draft to the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC), raising concerns about the laws’ constitutionality.
After stating that he would respect the court’s decision, President Mohammed Morsi appealed the Administrative Court’s decision via the State Litigation Authority. Summary⎙ Print Activists from Giza are forming an all-women slate of candidates for the Egyptian elections, writes Zenobia Azeem from Egypt. “We are the majority of Egyptians. The Shiite Scare in Egypt. Muslims visit the Hussein shrine at the Hussein Mosque after Friday prayers in Old Cairo, June 15, 2012.
(photo by REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh) Author: Holly Dagres Posted April 11, 2013. Women in Graffiti: A Tribute to the Women of Egypt. Pharaonic women in battle by Alaa Awad.
Drug addiction rising in Egypt, officials say. CAIRO -- The Egyptian government says it is taking steps to battle drug addiction, especially among young people, which has escalated amid deepening social and economic problems since the 2011 uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
The young are “more easily influenced,” said Amr Othman, the director of the organization for treatment of addiction and abuse. “They easily get into drugs and are sometimes pressed into drug trafficking.” Safarni- Bringing Egyptian Children the Travel Experience. Image and Drawing by Hamdy Reda SAFARNI (meaning "Take me Traveling" in Arabic) The state of urban planning and informal areas after the Egyptian Revolution. Informal areas have largely been responsible for absorbing most of Egypt’s growing urban population for the past 30 years. But most Cairenes didn’t notice these areas — or ashweyat, as the areas with red-brick buildings and narrow, unpaved streets are loosely called — until the Ring Road was built around the formal city limits about 10 years ago. The road exposed neighborhoods that many residents had never seen before, showing them for the first time that formal Cairo had been completely surrounded by kilometer after kilometer of informal building.
Urban planners now estimate that about 75 percent of those living in greater Cairo live in informal areas, yet they remain unrecognized by state institutions and have not been drawn on official maps. To tackle the issue, three international programs held the first in a series of workshops Monday to better understand the issue and bring together various stakeholders. Various attempts to divert this rapid growth have largely failed. In Cairo, Rethinking the City From the Bottom Up. CAIRO RUNNERS. A one-woman opposition show. “I have received death threats, but they do not scare me,” Egyptian dancer Sama al-Masri tells NOW about the increasingly sharp criticism of her art from Islamists in Egypt. The dancer, who is famed for mocking the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists in her country, created a stir in Egypt last year when she announced that Anwar al-Balkimi, a Salafist member of the dissolved parliament, had secretly married her, a claim the MP denied.
Balkimi was known as the “MP of aesthetic surgery” as he had had his nose done but claimed that it had been following an accident, as many Salafists shun plastic surgery. Following a dispute between Masri and Balkimi, who denied knowing her before the scandal, the dancer started producing music videos mocking Islamists, which she uploads on social networking sites and YouTube. Her videos usually attract thousands of viewers. In an interview with NOW, Masri rejected the term “Islamists” and said that the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists are “fake Muslims.” Syrian refugees find haven in Port Said. Syrian Refugees Fleeing Violence, Find Home at Restaurant in Cairo. أرض الحرًية سماء المخيلة. Amid bloodshed and chaos, Syrian wages a war for neutral reporting.