Egypt’s Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar made a tour on Saturday in both Ain Shams and Cairo universities to make sure precautionary measures against coronavirus are applied on the first day of the mid-year exams.

The mid-year exams at schools and universities were postponed in December due to the second wave of COVID-19. In February, the authorities extended the mid-year break by a week to end on 26 February.

The exams at universities are held amid a set of strict measures that had been announced earlier by the Supreme Council of Universities

Abdel-Ghaffar inspected exam halls at the two universities to make sure enough distances are left between each two students, urging continuous disinfection of the facilities, the higher education ministry said in a statement.

The minister’s tour included the faculties of dentistry, pharmacy, science and literature at Ain Shams University, as well as the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University.

Abdel-Ghaffar has been keen on inspecting all precautionary measures agreed upon during the last meeting of the Supreme Council of Universities on 20 February, highlighting the need to immediately punish violators.

During his tour, the minister spoke with some students about their readiness for the exams and the second semester.

Students at the first secondary year (Grade 10) also took their first mid-year exams today amid strict measures. Their exams are set to continue until 8 March, based on a plan previously announced by Education Minister Tarek Shawki.

The grade 10 students took their Arabic and biology exams in school classrooms.

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