KUWAIT CITY, Aug 5: After the sudden decision of the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation to stop flights between Egypt and Kuwait, hundreds of Kuwaiti students studying in Egypt find themselves in a difficult situation days before the beginning of their tests, reports Al-Qabas daily.

A number of them were quoted as saying the decision messes with the plans of many students preparing to travel to Egypt to sit for their scheduled tests in the middle of this month. They indicated each university and student have different circumstances and the postponement of the tests may not be a fair solution for all students, as some universities may reject the request for postponement and the affected students may have to repeat the academic year; thus delaying their graduation by another year.

Students of the Faculty of Medicine at Alexandria University directed urgent appeals to the government to intervene to resolve the crisis, as their absence from the practical tests scheduled within days will lead them to repeat the academic year. The students explained that traveling through transit to Egypt with the suspension of direct flights is an additional burden for them, especially as the average waiting hours are long, and there are no direct flights for all destinations, and some waiting flights (transit) from Dubai to Cairo are up to 24 hours.

Harmful decision

In the context, Ahmed Al-Shammari, President of the National Union of Kuwaiti Students in Egypt, said the decision to stop flights has caused more harm to students because of the timing, which coincides with the start of final exams in the Egyptian universities, stressing that Egypt did not block entry to Kuwaitis but only stopped direct flights, so the students can travel via transit. He added that Kuwaiti students are not used to traveling to Egypt via transit flights, indicating they are facing such a situation for the first time, as they relied on direct flights between the two countries.

Al-Shammari concluded “there are great efforts and extensive contacts with concerned authorities; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Kuwaiti Embassy in Cairo to try to find a solution to the crisis, as tests will be postponed for those who must be present and we’ll communicate with the various universities, and work on preserving the future of Kuwaiti students in Egyptian universities.”

For his part, Secretary of the National Union of Kuwaiti Students- Egypt Branch, Nasser Al-Otaibi affirmed that students inside Egypt had canceled their direct flights to Kuwait while others returned via transit to the homeland, indicating the  students wishing to travel to Egypt are in a state of confusion and their fate remains unknown until a decision is made.

Al-Otaibi added that coordination with the Cultural Office is continuing to resolve the current crisis and the union has sent a letter to it’s civil aviation authority to exclude Kuwaiti students, noting “ if the situation continues, the academic obligations of students will be postponed”. He also said “we await the official decisions and actions of the Cultural Attaché who has been doing his best since the beginning of the crisis”.

A number of students affirmed that some field training and tests in the medical colleges and other colleges will begin on August 8, which requires them to return to their universities to complete the exercise while the postgraduate exams will be written within two weeks, explaining that many students do not know their fate in light of the sudden decisions issued by both countries.

An Egyptian academic dismissed for manipulating grades of a Kuwaiti student

The Supreme Administrative Court in Egypt has ruled that a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Law in Alexandria University should be dismissed for manipulating the grades of a Kuwaiti student.

The court said “the teacher accessed the grades of the Kuwaiti student through his offer to help his colleagues mark the exams and set the grades, and he was able to learn of the student’s failure. He went ahead to tamper with the grades with the intention of changing status of the Kuwaiti student from failure to successful”.

The court confirmed in its ruling what it called “the prevalence of the values of science and elevation of the values of integrity, noting the university is a luminous beacon that proclaims the spirit of science, knowledge and morals knocking the scales of calculation for members of the faculty and their assistants, and that the assistant teacher gained access to an unauthorized place, which enabled him to manipulate the results, which the head of the control should have prevented.”

The court indicated the Kuwaiti student failed in 5 subjects with zero out of 20, all of which were modified in favor of the failed student, and the papers were devoid of any disciplinary decision signed by the university against the student.