Hurghada's Al-Mina School Reopens After Fire, With Parents Reporting 50-Pupil Classes and Buying Their Own Fans

Classes resumed on Tuesday at Al-Mina Integrated Experimental Language School in Hurghada, two days after a fire in a ground-floor book store closed the school, Al-Masry Al-Youm reports. The same outlet reports that parents are now pressing the Red Sea governor to visit the school unannounced.

The Red Sea education directorate had suspended classes for two days as a precaution after the fire, which broke out on Sunday morning and damaged the book store without injuring any pupils, teachers or staff. Alaa Hassan, director of the Hurghada educational administration, confirmed there were no injuries and said the closure was precautionary while checks were completed.

Before pupils returned, extinguishing and cooling work was finished and the site was checked for remaining hot spots that could reignite, along with inspections of the building, its structures and its utilities. A committee from the Educational Buildings Authority was assigned to review the school's electrical work and inspect its installations and equipment. The public prosecution has opened an investigation and requested an inspection of the fire site, with security and technical enquiries into the cause continuing.

What the parents are asking for

Parents told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the matter should not close once the fire damage is cleared, and called for a full review of safety and of the school day — buildings, electrical connections, storerooms and emergency exits, as well as classrooms, toilets, cleaning, supervision and staffing. According to their accounts:

• some classes hold more than 50 pupils
• seats are broken and windows need maintenance
• there are too few fans, and some parents bought and fitted fans themselves because of the heat
• the toilets need urgent maintenance
• rubbish collects in corridors and the yard, which they link to too few cleaning staff
• pupils spend large parts of the day in "reserve periods" because teachers for some subjects are missing, and the timetable is not stable
• gaps in supervision leave large numbers of pupils in the yard, where scuffles have broken out

They asked for pupil numbers in each class to be counted against the room's actual capacity, a full inventory of furniture and facilities, a review of fire-fighting and emergency procedures, and a clear figure for the teacher shortage subject by subject. What they want, they said, is the governor seeing the school himself and hearing from pupils, parents, teachers and staff, rather than reading desk reports.

Hurghada News reported the fire and the two-day closure earlier this week; what is new is the reopening and the parents' list of demands. The complaints about conditions are the parents' own accounts. Al-Masry Al-Youm reports no response from the school or the governorate, gives no date for any visit, and the cause of the fire has not been established.