THE new school year is set to begin at a time when maintenance work for the majority of schools has not been completed. Some schools are not ready nor are they safe to receive students because contractors failed to complete maintenance work on time, Al-Riyadh daily reports. Shockingly enough, maintenance and restoration work for some schools has not yet begun even though the school year is around the corner. A number of school principals complained that electric outlets and light switches inside school buildings need heavy maintenance because of misuse by students. These outlets, if not replaced every year, pose a great danger to students and the concerned authorities called on parents to help schools raise student awareness on the importance of keeping public property in good condition. Fatimah Al-Shammary, an education supervisor, attributed the reason behind the delay in maintenance every year to a lack of planning. “Some officials at the Ministry of Education who are in charge of maintenance at schools are not monitoring the work of the companies that perform maintenance in schools. Sometimes, the company that wins a maintenance project uses cheap and low-quality materials to save money and sends over untrained technicians to school premises,” Al-Shammary said. Ali Al-Saghirat, chairman of the Committee of Printing Houses at Asharqia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, blamed the low budgets allocated to maintenance work at schools. “The budgets allocated are not enough to expedite and improve maintenance work at schools. That is why schools use the services of inefficient companies, the majority of which do not stick to maintenance schedules,” he noted.
Periodic visits Maj. Gen. Asad Al-Othman, director of Eastern Province Civil Defense, said the Civil Defense sends over safety officers before the beginning of the school year to ensure that all schools meet minimum safety requirements. “If the officers spot any problem that could pose a danger to students, they will immediately report it to the pertinent Education Department to take necessary actions. The officers will coordinate and follow up with the department until the problem has been fixed and the danger has been eliminated,” he explained. Saeed Al-Bahis, director of public relations at Eastern Province Education Department, said the department has a system allowing schools to report maintenance problems. The department sends officers to the concerned school to examine the problem and determine the type of maintenance needed. “We also have a hotline so that schools can report any urgent problems. We usually fix the problem on the same day. Our inspection teams visit schools during the vacation and decide which ones need urgent maintenance,” he said.
