CAIRO - Policemen stopped thousands of angry student and their parents from marching to the Ministry of Education building in the coastal city of Alexandria as Minister, Ahmed Zaki Badr, issued a controversial decree to change their private schools into Government-run ones. Thousands of students from the three schools of el-Nasr College for Girls, el-Nasr School for Boys and Lycee Francais du Alexandria held demonstrations and sit-ins demanding Badr torescind his decree, which made waves across the country. The angry students from the three schools, waving placards and chanting “Our schools are not for nationalisation,” and "Our schools should remain the same", wanted to march through Fouad Street, where the Ministry's building is located. "But, the police troops prevented the students from taking to the street and closed the school gates. The police fended off them in attempts to reinforce a security cordon near the three schools. Despite angry shouts, the massive protest remained peaceful," a female student said. Four days ago, Badr has issued Ministerial Decree No.475/2010 ordering that the three schools be turned into Experimental Schools, which would be entirely owned and run by the Government. The decree has angered the students and their parents, who vowed to take the Minister to court. "We will take the Minister to court for his individual decree, which harms the interests of children," Gihan Hassan, mother of student Nadaran el-Rakab of the el-Nasr College for Girls School, said. The Administrative Justice Court of Alexandria will hold its first hearing session in Parents vs Badr case Thrusday at 9:00 am, Gihan said, adding that the Minister has no right to take the prestigious school away from its Greek owners, who had founded it hundreds of years ago. "The el-Nasr College for Girls is not just historic classrooms and playgrounds. It has an orphanage and a hostel that house hundreds of parentless children and old people. All these charity facilities are run by the owners and Saudi Princess Samaher," Gihan said. She claimed that Badr had issued this "unjustified decree" to acquire the three schools and collect the tuition fees to fill the Ministry's coffers. "We have decided to oppose Decree No. 475/2010 or any plan by Badr to change the legal and financial status of these three schools, whose conditions will definitely deteriorate if the Ministry takes them, " student Toqqa Adel of the el-Nasr College for Girls School said.
