With public schools back in session, education was the key topic on the airwaves last night.

But before we dive into that, Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi discussed the guidelines issued by the Industrial Development Authority on applying for licenses under Industrial Permits Act. IDA Deputy Chairman Emad Raafat phoned in to tell Lamees that while the act does cut the wait-time to receive approval for permits to as little as seven days, instead of 600, this does not include the time required for investors to actually acquire a plot of land. He noted that acquiring land is a separate process governed by public tenders.

Domty Vice Chairman Mohamed Damaty also phoned in to laud the new legislation in principle, but said that investors have yet to test whether or not these changes will make a difference on the ground (watch, runtime 7:30).

It was back to school for Kol Youm’s Amr Adib, who launched a donation drive for public school students whose families are unable to afford school uniforms. The drive came after news reports emerged that a group of students were dismissed from a school in Asmarat for not wearing the uniform (watch, runtime 9:35). Education Minister Tarek Shawki phoned in to reassure Adib that the incident would not be repeated. Shawki also made the point that schools have been warned against dismissing students whose parents are unable to pay tuition fees on time (watch, runtime 3:15).

Over on Yahduth fi Masr, Sherif Amer looked at the launch of Japanese-curriculum schools in Egypt. (We have more on that in Education, below). For the rest of the episode, Amer hosted Egyptian scientist Farouk El Baz for a talk about education reform. El Baz praised Minister Tarek Shawki’s efforts to that end. Separately, the scientist also said the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will not pose a threat to Egypt’s water, but the sticking point is how much time will be required to fill the dam’s reservoirs.

Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar told Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary that there is no intention to set up fatwa kiosks at public universities like those that popped up in metro stations last month, maintaining that universities are not an appropriate venue to seek or receive fatwas (watch, runtime 7:06).