Each year more than a million children in Libya benefit from free education offered by thousands of public schools. Education is compulsory until the 9th grade and parents can be prosecuted if their children do not attend school.
This year, however, the starting date for school was delayed because of lack of books, lack of security and many other factors. In fact, the school year has not been regular since 2011, when the Qaddafi regime was toppled.
Some schools finally welcomed students through their school gates on October 24, a month later than usual.
However, many public school buildings are being used as shelters for internally displaced families, with families from Sirte and Benghazi the most affected.
The former has been under ISIL control for nearly two years. The city has been a battleground since May, as attempts are made to dislodge the group. Around 250 schools in Sirte are abandoned and out of use.
In Benghazi, it is estimated that more than half of all school buildings have been damaged or completely destroyed because of more than two years of fighting between the Libyan armed forces and extremist groups. While in Sirte the entire population estimated to be 100,000 have been forced to leave the city. In Tripoli, schools are overcrowded, with class sizes averaging 40 children, and with an absence of books compounding the problem.
Not all schools have received their books since the Ministry of Education in the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord did not have enough funds to print the required amount of study guides, while its counterpart in Tobruk has plenty of resources but does not seem interested in sending books to western Libya.
This led the Ministry of Education to release all schoolbooks online, free of charge.
Unfortunately, most cities in Libya still have either long hours without electricity, no internet connections or both. Even when electricity is on and the internet connection is up, it can take hours to download a simple file.
Across Libya, security remains the major fear for all Libyan families and explains why many refuse to send their children to school. Public schools do not provide transport, leaving each family to either take their children to school themselves or depend on private transport, such as taxis.
This is made even more difficult because banks have been suffering from chronic cash shortages in a country where the economy is cash-based and credit cards simply do not form part of everyday life.
All those problems have opened the door for private schools. Over the past five years, private schools have mushroomed in every corner of the country, mainly because they provide transport to young children whose parents cannot drive them to school every day.
However, this comes at a higher cost. The average yearly fee in any private school is about 1,000 Libyan dinars (about $200 at current black market rates, three times more than that at official rates).
Unicef estimates Libya’s total number of schoolchildren this year is about 1.2 million, and around 279,000 will miss classes.
The interior of the country and faraway villages and towns are less affected since they are safer environments. Most school buildings in Bani Walid, 180km southwest of Tripoli, for example, are fully equipped and functioning normally despite being overcrowded. The same is true in other small cities such as Tarhouna and Khomes, south and east of the capital respectively.
Lack of security, the sporadic eruption of violence and political feuding have brought havoc to every aspect of life in Libya, but the education system is the main victim with far-reaching consequences for the overwhelming majority of the population.
Mustafa Fetouri is a Libyan academic and journalist
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
THREE
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Race card
6.30pm: Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
7.05pm: Meydan Cup – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,810m
7.40pm: UAE 2000 Guineas – Group 3 (TB) $125,000 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Firebreak Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,600m
9.50pm: Meydan Classic – Conditions (TB) $$50,000 (T) 1,400m
9.25pm: Dubai Sprint – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,200m
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Florida: The critical Sunshine State
Though mostly conservative, Florida is usually always “close” in presidential elections. In most elections, the candidate that wins the Sunshine State almost always wins the election, as evidenced in 2016 when Trump took Florida, a state which has not had a democratic governor since 1991.
Joe Biden’s campaign has spent $100 million there to turn things around, understandable given the state’s crucial 29 electoral votes.
In 2016, Mr Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton paid frequent visits to Florida though analysts concluded that she failed to appeal towards middle-class voters, whom Barack Obama won over in the previous election.
THE SPECS
Range Rover Sport Autobiography Dynamic
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 518bhp
Torque: 625Nm
Speed: 0-100kmh 5.3 seconds
Price: Dh633,435
On sale: now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
