CAIRO (AA) – Egypt's educational institutions have turned into political battlefields for the supporters of the nation's political rivals, with 611 protests, sit-ins and rallies staged in universities, schools, and other educational institutes since mid-September, according to a recent survey.
"Although this is worrying because it mars the educational process as a whole, these protests have already become a fact of life on campuses and in schools," Doaa Adel, the media officer of the International Development Center, a local NGO, told Anadolu Agency.
According to the center's latest survey, themed the "Educational Institutions' Indicator", 611 protest activities have been staged in universities, schools, and educational institutes since the beginning of the new academic year on September 1.
The survey reported a noticeable surge in student protest activities during October with 378 protest activities organized compared to 233 in September.
This means students had staged an average of 12 protest activity every day during October, it noted.
Cairo University came on top of Egypt's 25 universities with 64 protest activities staged at the nation's oldest state-run university.
Al-Azhar University came in second place with a total of 58 protest activities.
- Politicized -
The Cairo-based organization said schools were also the scene of student protests.
"The universities have always been a fertile soil for political activities, but the new thing is that school students are jumping into our country's political struggles," said Adel.
Some 124 protest activities were staged by school students since the start of the new academic year in September, the survey found.
Most of the protest activities were politically-motivated.
According to the survey, 232 protest activities were organized to demand the reinstatement of Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Morsi and end what the demonstrators described as the military coup against him.
Students backing the Egyptian army staged a total of 33 protest activities during September and October, it concluded.
Egypt's new academic year was marred by security problems on the background of rising political tensions between the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement from which Morsi hails, and the army-installed interim government.
Morsi supporters have been staging almost daily protests since his ouster by the military on July 3.
His critics, however, have also staged mass demonstrations in support of the army.
The political division manifests itself on university campuses and classrooms as only 25 percent of the total 611 protest activities were motivated by university enrolment and admission problems.
By Amr Emam - Anadolu Agency
englishnews@aa.com.tr
