By Maha Sulaiman.
Benghazi, 6 September 2015:
Closed for more than a year because of fighting in the city, Benghazi University finally restarted . . .[restrict]classes yesterday. With the main campus in Garyounis still seen to be in the firing line and massively damaged in earlier fighting, students from the various departments met in different schools across the city. The English department is operating out of a school in Salmani, while the law department is using two in Fuwayhat. Medical students are using Benghazi Medical Centre and the nearby Children’s Hospital.
Exams for all departments are to start on 7 October after the Eid holiday, students have been told. However, those who have been displaced because of the fighting or who are serving in the Libyan army will be allowed to take them early next year.
There had been earlier announcements over the past year announcing the reopening and dates for exams. In May, the university said it would reopen in July after Ramadan. In July, it was announced that exams would begin yesterday, 5 September.
The use of local schools, others of which are being used to house displaced people, has caused some disruption to the education system. However, a number were already closed and others amalgamated because of the crisis.
Meanwhile, in another indication of change in the city, its Crisis Committee yesterday said that plans were in hand to build 3,000 housing units for displaced people in Sidi Khalifa district. According to the committee, work on the first homes would start before the end of the month.
Last month, the city council said that it was looking at cooperation with the Islamic Committee of the International Crescent to build 500 units for displaced people.
In a separate development, there are also unconfirmed but persistent reports that supplies of equipment are to be sent to the army fighting Islamists in Leithi, Sabri and elsewhere in the city. [/restrict]
