Prep schools in Egypt are usually for students aged 12 to 15, although the prosecution did not specify the ages of the victims.
Police notified the prosecution that a two-metre-long section of concrete fence in Al-Motamadiya preparatory school for girls in Kerdasa district collapsed after students rushed onto the stairs that led to their classrooms, the prosecution said.
The prosecution has collected testimony from the school’s principal, two supervisors, security and maintenance officials, and other witnesses including the head of Kerdasa district and officials at the educational building authority, the prosecution added.
Investigations
Meanwhile, Minister of Education Reda Hegazy has ordered an investigation into the head of the concerned educational directorate, the school principal, and supervisors of the school building where the incident took place.
Hegazy promised “urgent and decisive” legal measures against all those proven responsible for the incident, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the ministry is offering EGP 100,000 to the family of the deceased victim.
The minister also ordered the educational building authority to review the safety of all school buildings across the nation, instructing the heads of educational directorates to form an engineering committee for this purpose, the statement noted.
Giza Governor Ahmed Rashed offered condolences over the death of the student, affirming that the educational and social solidarity directorates have been tasked with providing all forms of support to the family of the deceased student.
Such incidents are rare in Egypt, even though many Egyptian schools are old.
The last similar incident took place in December 2018, when a student was killed and others were injured after part of a school fence collapsed in Cairo’s El-Marg district.
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