EGYPT PHOTO SET POWER CUTS

Power cuts in Egypt

epa11470004 Students queue to study for their high school certificate exams at the Library of Alexandria during the power-off time that the government applied to overcome the overload amid a heatwave, in Alexandria Governorate, Egypt, 28 June 2024. A severe heatwave in Egypt in recent weeks is straining the country’s electricity grid, with authorities ordering extended power cuts in a bid to reduce the high levels of electricity consumption.

But the measures – which include daily power cuts of at least three hours during the afternoon and early evening – have left Egyptians sweltering in temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius during the day and in near darkness once the sun goes down.

Starting 1 July, small shops will have to close two hours earlier, at 10pm, while supermarkets, pharmacies and cafes and restaurants will have to shut by 1am.

The government began enforcing power cuts in July 2023, particularly during hotter summer months, to ration electricity consumption.

The soaring heat during the day and being limited to candle light for evening study is particularly challenging for some 745,000 Egyptian high-school students, who are preparing to take their crucial university entrance exams – known as the Thanaweya Amma – between 10 June and 20 July.

But the students have benefitted from support from the community, as mosques, churches, clubs and libraries, as well as some cafes, have stepped up to provide spaces for them to prepare for the important exams.

Bibliotheca Alexandrina, in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, has said it will allow high-schoolers to come to study free of charge at the air-conditioned library during the daily power cuts. EPA/MOHAMED HOSSAM ATTENTION: This Image is part of a PHOTO SET

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