CAIRO: An Egyptian journalist and an American student were detained during a rally by two dozen high school students on Wednesday in front of the Ministry of Education to demand education reform. Students blocked traffic in front of the ministry which led to skirmishes with frustrated motorists. The rally was organized by the newly-formed Coalition of High School Students. Journalist Hala Ahmed and student Ethen Buckler were arrested. The American student was not carrying any identification and the journalist was accused of facilitating his “espionage” activities, according to the activist Mona Seif, coordinator of the No To Military Trials Campaign. Seif said that the detainees were accompanied by a lawyer. The students demanded educational reform on the primary and secondary levels, setting up a local college system and establishing a scientific base to enhance academic research, reviving school activities, sports and art and providing special programs for talented students. “We also demand social justice, and equal opportunity in basic education, instead of the disparity in the level of education offered between private and public schools,” said Mahmoud Khedawy, a founding member of the Coalition. He also emphasized the need to activate laws regulating the teacher-student relationship. Another member of the Coalition, Ahmed Nasr, stressed that the ministry should support teachers in their demands to criminalize private tuition to ensure that public schools improve on both the academic and administrative levels.
