JEDDAH, 8 September — The Ministry of Education has issued a new regulation governing the operation of gates of girls schools, in a step to make public schools safer in the wake of last year’s disaster in a Makkah school.
Circulated only two weeks before the reopening of schools, the new regulation specified that the gate of every school will remain locked during school hours as long as the doorman is available outside the gate.
If the doorman is absent for any reason the keys of the gate should be entrusted with the female staff inside the school. The new memorandum, No. 451-1, also affirmed that the procedure should be taken very seriously in order to guarantee students’ safety in case of an emergency.
In addition, staff of all girls schools are being asked by the ministry to achieve full compliance with Civil Defense procedures. Emergency training will also be made mandatory soon for both staff and students.
Sources in several girls schools in Jeddah revealed to Arab News that new norms have been introduced through regulations in order to ensure that all schools improve their fire exits and that fire extinguishers are maintained properly.
The new precautions are taken to prevent another disaster similar to the one that occurred last year in Makkah where several students were killed in a fire due to lack of fire extinguishers and emergency procedures.
The disaster led to merging of the Presidency of Girls Education with the Ministry of Education as well as reviewing the safety standards of all school buildings last semester. During the review, many schools were evacuated and students had to study in safer buildings in a two- shift system until the existing buildings were made fool-proof or the schools moved to safer buildings.
