Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — As more than 5 million pupils are starting their new school year Saturday, incomplete maintenance of school buildings throughout the Kingdom is causing widespread concern among parents. Muhammad Al-Dukhani, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Education, assured worried parents of the ministry's determination to finish all the necessary work before students return for the new academic year. Many maintenance programs are well behind schedule in spite of the efforts of a special committee at the ministry. The sad state of disrepair in many school buildings has left principals with no choice other than to arrange evening classes for their students in nearby schools. At Jeddah Secondary School for Boys in Al-Andalus District the teaching staff were stunned to discover important maintenance work had still not completed. Some schools however are in such a state of disrepair that the students' welfare is at risk. For example, at Yanbu Girls' Secondary School in Balhamr, the sunshade needs to be repaired to protect the children from the midday sun. The building is so substandard that Sharf Al-Grafi, the Supervisor of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) in Madinah, has requested the ministry to provide an alternative building for the students. He has yet to receive a formal response even though all schools are scheduled to reopen Saturday. Preliminary statistics show that there will be 1,17,653 children in kindergartens, 2,513,815 pupils in primary schools, 1,198,414 in intermediate schools and 1,125,602 in secondary schools in addition to 27,138 students in special education centers at the beginning of the new academic year, according to the ministry's spokesman.In a statement to Saudi Press Agency, Al-Dukhani said 231,438 male teachers and 270,251 female teachers are ready to receive the students. Presently, there are 17,695 boys' schools and 15,291 girls' schools in the Kingdom.
