“My life exploded because of 10 minutes on board”… Egyptian female teacher expelled from school after divorce

The BBC reported on the 11th (local time) that an elementary school female teacher was kicked out of her job and divorced for dancing belly dancing at a private meeting in Egypt.

According to the BBC, at a state primary school in Dakaliya, Egypt, Arabic teacher Aya Youssef danced to music with colleagues at a recent work social gathering on a Nile cruise ship. Someone filmed it and posted it on social media, but over the past week, the video has spread across the Arab world, drawing criticism from conservatives in Egypt.

In the video, Yousef was wearing a hijab and long-sleeved dress. However, he was criticized for having male faculty members around him.

When it became known that his job was to teach students at a school, there were comments stating that “Egyptian education has fallen to the bottom.”

In the end, Yousef was fired from school and even divorced from her husband.

“The 10 minutes on the Nile boat ruined my life,” Yousef said. “I will never dance again.” He also confessed that he had even considered extreme choices due to psychological pain and anxiety.

Egyptian women’s rights activists accused Yousef of being witch-hunted.

Dr. Nihad Abu Khumsan of Egypt’s Center for Women’s Rights, offered Yousef a job and saw him sue the Egyptian education authorities for unfair dismissal.

As the controversy grew, Egypt’s education authorities are said to have appointed Yousef to the new school.

Yousef said, “Uploading a video without his/her consent is an invasion of privacy, and we plan to sue the person who filmed it.”

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