A group of young male students dressed in traditional Islamic attire — white Al-Azhar caps (Taqiyya) and galabiyyas — pose smiling in front of a whiteboard inside a classroom at an Al-Azhar religious school (Madrassa Azhariyya) in Qena, Upper Egypt. Al-Azhar schools form part of Egypt's oldest and most established Islamic educational network, rooted in the Al-Azhar institution founded in Cairo in 970 AD. These schools combine Quranic memorization and Islamic studies with the national curriculum, and remain widespread across Upper Egypt, including Qena Governorate.