BEHEIRA -- Students at Edku High School have been obliged to take classes in an outdoor schoolyard ever since the state-run Educational Buildings Authority (EBA) condemned part of the school building in 1999 without providing alternative learning venues. "We have 400 students that need 25 classrooms," said one teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But we only have six classrooms, meaning that most students don't have chairs to sit on." He went on to ask why the EBA had failed to provide alternative classrooms, since the school is said to generate some LE150,000 per year in tuition fees. One Edku High School chemistry teacher complained he was forced to share a single room, no more than two square meters, with eight other teachers. "Since there are no labs for us, we have to use the schoolyard," he said. One student also complained about the lack of toilet facilities. "There's only one lavatory for the teachers, which we're not allowed to use," he said. Beheira Governor Muhammad Sharawi recently dispatched an inspection committee to the school, after which he reportedly urged EBA officials to build a new school building with adequate facilities for all students. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
