A number of women›s productive families confirmed their lack of knowledge with the decision of the Ministry of Education to assign running the school canteen to productive families. They asserted they were unaware of how to take advantage of the decision in the distribution of the products because it was unclear to them the details on coordination with the leader of the school or the Department of Education. The official spokesman for the education in Jeddah Hammoud Al-Squiran said that inability to fulfill the conditions set for productive families is what prevents them from assuming their roles in school canteens. Faisal Bataiwil, director in Chamber of Commerce for productive families initiative in Jeddah, said the chamber is ready to respond to the Education Ministry to activate the initiative. Currently, there are 3,000 families, including 700 producing accessible to 1,000 households engaged in the sale of food. Al-Squiran, said there are no canteen yet run by productive Jeddah families, because it has to address the Labor Office›s procedures governing this matter. The ministry asked for nominations of families to communicate with them and complete the procedures to work in school canteens. He pointed out that the students Services Department receives many visits and telephone communications by the productive families to inquire about this matter. The ministry answers all queries with an open mind. Bataiwil expressed his administration›s readiness to cooperate and coordinate with the Department of Education in Jeddah in the nomination of productive families that have proven their efficiency and the quality of their products. He said that the program has 3,000 productive families registered, including 700 families in the area of sale food, considering this number is the largest concentration of productive families in the chambers of Commerce in the Kingdom. This falls under a national project on the development of crafts and national industries, calling for the need for efforts between education departments and chambers of commerce to organize work according to the plans. Batawil indicated the chamber›s willingness to maintain schools across the 1,000 families with specific mechanisms to ensure ease of delivering and monitoring food. He added: «The work in school canteens provides hundreds of job opportunities with higher production quality. It also creates permanent and continuous outlets, which enable them to become sustainable producers able to establish their own business. Al-Madina Daily got in touch with many of the productive families working in the field of food stalls regarding their ability to run canteens. Many of them expressed their lack of knowledge with the decision and its details and they stressed the need for coordination at least with the Chambers of Commerce to begin this process in an organized manner in schools. Umm Rana said she had no idea about this decision, and if all goes well she doesn't mind working from home because it will provide her solid source of income. Umm Mohammed said that there are two schools in front of her house, but she didn't know about the decision. "If I was given the opportunity, I will sieze it. I'm registered in the chamber of commerce as a productive family, but I wasn't informed about this new decision," she added.
