A Yunan Labib Rizq prize has been instituted by Benha University’s Faculty of Arts for students who excel in history studies. The announcement was made by Hamada Ismail, vice-dean of the faculty of arts, at a recent commemoration held by the National Participation Forum of the Coptic Orthodox Youth Bishopric to mark the loss of Dr Rizq.
At the commemoration it was declared that Cairo governorate plans to name the street in Nasr City on which Dr Rizq lived in his name. Moreover, the board of directors of the Khalil Agha Secondary School in Cairo will also name one of its main halls after Dr Rizq, who was once a history teacher there.
The participants paid tribute to some of the national and intellectual battles that Dr Rizq encountered in his lifetime, such as his role in the Taba negotiations, his call for including Coptic history in school curricula, and teaching ethics and values in schools. Rifaat al-Said, head of al-Tagammu Party, said of Dr Rizq: “One of the most important battles he engaged in was when fundamentalists wished to impose their own version of history on school curricula.”
Muhammad Saber al-Arab, head of Books and Documents House, identified Dr Rizq as sending out a message based on simplifying history and spreading historical knowledge.
“The language of history used to be complicated and puzzling, but Dr Rizq managed to simplify it and make it eminently more appealing,” Dr Arab said. “He was a great teacher; always concerned about informing people, and this is why he was able to inform people about history through a language that was easily grasped. He was gentle, deep, serious and disciplined.”