Students and teachers of a secondary school in Jeddah Monday were surprised and annoyed when they found a mobile phone transmission unit had been set up in the parking space just behind the school overnight. Waleed Bin Ibrahim, principal of the Jeddah Secondary School, told the Saudi Gazette that the unit is not surrounded with a fence. “This can be a real danger for the stud?ents,” he said. “We are afraid that they might climb up the unit and expose themselves to electrocution or falling.” He added that he noticed two students trying to climb the unit the morning after the mobile transmission tower was set up. “Students normally gather around the school prior to the morning lineup,” he said. “I and some teachers usually circle the school to insist on students to line up. Yesterday, I was shocked to see a new communication unit installed in the parking area that the students use to park their cars.” He said he saw two students trying to climb the unit and yelled at them not to go near it. The principal said he has no idea to which company the unit belongs. “Nothing on the unit shows what company owns it,” he said. “I tried and failed to find out which company installed it. No matter what that company is, the presence of the unit in this location is dangerous to students.” Meanwhile, students said they were unhappy with the unit taking up space in their parking lot. “This unit has made difficult for students to use the whole parking space,” Waleed Darraj, an 11th-grade student, told the Saudi Gazette. He added that the mobile station has caused a mess around the school, especially when the students leave in the afternoon. Another student wondered how the unit was set without having at least a fence round it. “We normally see such stations on highways surrounded by fences or built in relatively inaccessible places,” said Khaled Mohammed, a 12th-grade student. The school principal pointed out whether or not such units are hazardous to health, the school should have been informed prior to its installation, so that it can take safety measures. “We should have been informed, so that we could at least warn our students of such possible sources of electromagnetic activity,” he added. The principal revealed that he called on teachers to keep their eyes on the students when they rush out in the afternoon. He also called for officials of the company that owns the unit to look again at the chosen place and find somewhere else to install it. “I asked the teachers to watch students carefully when they leave school,” he said. “We don't want to hear one day that one of our students has climbed the unit and hurt himself. So, I request the officials in the telecommunication company, whether it is the STC, Mobily or the MTC to find a better place for the unit,” he said. __
