JEDDAH: The safety committee of the Civil Defense determined during recent inspection tours of government and private schools in Jeddah that 500 schools are in violation of safety rules, local Arabic daily Al-Madinah reported yesterday, quoting an official source in the Civil Defense.
In a report, the committee said the violations were either in the school buildings or in the absence of safety measures. It asked the owners of the private schools and the department of education which supervises the public schools to take immediate corrective measures.
The source said the Makkah Governorate has established a special committee to make sure that the schools either make the necessary corrections or they are closed down.
There are 600 international and private schools for boys and girls in Jeddah against 1,800 government schools, raising the total number of schools in Jeddah to 2,400.
Early this year the Civil Defense asked all schools to make sure that all the necessary safety measures are in place including the strength of building of the facility itself, emergency exits, fire-fighting equipment, escalators and others. It asked the schools to show official documents from engineering consultancy offices to prove that they have all the required safety tools before they are allowed to function.
500 Jeddah schools found violating safety rules
