A classroom of young male students wearing traditional Azhari white and red caps (Taqiyya) sit at wooden school desks inside an Al-Azhar affiliated religious school (Madrasa Azhariyya) in Qena, Upper Egypt. Al-Azhar schools are part of Egypt's oldest and most respected Islamic educational institution, founded in Cairo in 970 AD, offering religious and academic curricula across Egypt. The simple classroom setting with pale green walls and wooden-framed windows is typical of rural Azhar school branches in Upper Egyptian governorates.