Students to return to Arish Uni, first time after February operations

CAIRO – 8 July 2018: Around 6750 students of North Sinai’s Arish University returned to their lecture halls on Saturday after a five month hiatus due to the major counter-terrorism campaign taking place in the area.

Dean of Al-Arish University, Habash Nady, told Egypt Today that free buses will be provided to transfer students to the campus and that all the classrooms were equipped with auxiliary devices.


Dean of Al-Arish University, Habash Nady- File Photo

We raised the state of emergency in the university to end the second semester of the academic year in two months, Nady said.

In February, classes in Arish's universities and schools were stopped upon the launch of the Egyptian military full-scale operation carried out against terrorist militants.

The Egyptian Armed Forces launched a major military operation dubbed "Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018" to purge the country from terrorism.

“Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018" comes as part of the Armed Forces' ongoing counter-terrorism operations in Sinai that are aimed at eliminating terrorists and takfiri elements and eradicating their breeding grounds and hotbeds.

The Ministry of Education has taken several steps to help students continue their studies in North Sinai, which had been temporarily suspended due to the full-scale operation against militants in North and Central Sinai.

Officials at the Ministry of Education stressed that educational caravans will be provided for high school students in the coming period after the situation stabilizes in North Sinai.

Final-year high school students in North Sinai have also returned to their schools to take their final exams. Officials in the governorate have reported that the process is running smoothly.

However, the Ministry of Education stated that it would be difficult for the ministry to allocate special exams and questions for them, as the high school exams should be unified across Egypt, indicating that the ministry has no intention to minimize the curriculum for North Sinai students.

Furthermore, the ministry allowed students to take their exams in other governorates.

Schools in North Sinai have been suspended several times due to the terrorist groups' attempts to destabilize North Sinai. In October 2017, schools in Al-Arish, North Sinai, were evacuated after terrorist groups targeted security posts and a national bank, which resulted in clashes between the Armed Forces and the terrorists.

Security forces have been fighting an Islamist insurgency based in North Sinai since the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. These terrorist groups have been targeting security forces by attacking military and police checkpoints, particularly in North Sinai.


Sinai has been a staging ground for militants operating in Egypt for decades. It is also believed to be home to the Islamic State’s Egyptian branch, which has been primarily targeting Christians and security forces in the area.

On Tuesday, the Egyptian Air Forces killed three takfiri elements and arrested 59 criminals and suspects in North and Central Sinai, as part of the “Comprehensive Operation - Sinai 2018”, a statement issued by the Armed Forces said.

The statement also revealed that a number of weapons and ammunition were seized, adding that the security forces spoiled the infiltration of 43 elements via the international borders.