Cairo - For the first time since its establishment, Al-Azhar University has announced it is set to be allowing mixed-gender classrooms in some university classes due to space and facility limitations. The university stated in a statement that it has decided to open up special mixed-gender classes for students in the faculties of pharmacy and medicine—which are single-sex or segregated classes—in Assiut governorate (Southern Egypt), starting the next academic year (2017/2018). Years ago, Al-Azhar University has barred students from wearing face-veils, or the niqab, in female-only classrooms and dormitories.