Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Pupils’ parents and Muslim employees of the Coptic Evangelical Elementary School in al-Nikhaylah village in Upper Egyptian governorate of Asyut threatened to stage a sit-in protesting against the pastor’s alleged attempt to expel the pupils and the employees of the school under the pretext that the school is the church’s property.

 

Sālih mentioned that 90 percent of the school’s pupils are Muslim and Copts comprise only 10 percent.

 

The Evangelical Church pastor had complained to the officials at the Ministry of Education and Teaching, and the security departments about the school’s noise that hinders the religious rites at the church. He also informed that the church’s steeple constructed on top of the school building was about to collapse and forms a real threat to the pupils and the workers.

 

Muhammad Najīb, deputy of the Ministry of Education and Teaching commented stating that the church has no right to call to expel the pupils as far as there is an official rent contract between the ministry and the church and that the ministry is paying the rent. He also added that the land on which the school is constructed is not the church’s property but that of the State and consequently it cannot be added to the church.