A number of national schools in the Makkah region have hastened to appoint security guards at their gates following the death last week of school teacher Fayez Al-Shanbarawi. Ashraf Al-Skeikh, owner of a number of schools in Makkah, said that school administrations had become increasingly concerned at a number of recent incidents and have accordingly started to employ guards at their gates to check the identities of persons wishing to enter in order to ensure that school regulations are in force. Nasser Al-Hayawi of Girls' Education for the province of Makkah, has meanwhile called for stricter measures to deal with persons in violation of the sanctity of school premises and “put an end to aggression against teachers and students” which he said had “taken a dangerous upturn”. Teacher Al-Shanbarawi was killed at a Makkah school last Tuesday when an acquaintance entered the premises unchallenged and shot him four times in front of staff and pupils. The killer is currently having his mental stability assessed. A meeting of senior education officials in Makkah the day before the killing discussed the appointment of school guards, with sources saying that the Ministry of Education had asked the Ministry of Finance to approve the budgeting for 30,847 security guard positions or alternatively the allocation of finances to hire private security firms.
