JEDDAH, 20 November 2004 — More than five million students will return to school and over a million civil servants resume work today after a protracted 16-day Eid Al-Fitr holiday. The Traffic Department has taken measures to handle the massive traffic of both students and employees in the morning hours. Classes at government schools will start at 7.30 a.m.

School officials and heads of government departments expect poor attendance in the first week, as many families are still away visiting relatives in other parts of the country.

“This has become an annual problem and the Education Ministry has failed to find a solution,” one teacher said about the low attendance after the Eid holidays. “We see many students absent in the first week after reopening schools as well as the week before the holidays,” he pointed out.

According to Al-Watan daily, about 50 percent of students did not attend classes the week before the Eid Al-Fitr holidays last year and 30 percent after the Eid. “This is really a big problem and must be solved,” the paper quoted a school manager as saying.

Some schools have adopted new methods to tackle the problem. They scheduled examinations in the first week after the holidays hoping this will force students to attend school. Some other schools deduct two points from the grade for each day of absence. But despite these measures, the number of absentees is growing year after year.

Abdul Aziz ibn Taleb, a secondary school student, blamed teachers for the absence of students as they would not give new lessons in the week before and after the holidays. Some schools are not strict in applying the punishment rules and this also encourages students to cut classes, he added.

Mashari Al-Musaily, an intermediate student, does not agree with the idea of tough punishments. Instead, he said, schools must adopt innovative methods to win students’ hearts. Cultural programs and contests that help students develop their skills would encourage them to attend school, he added.

“Many students do not give any genuine reason for their absence,” said Sultan Al-Mutref, an intermediate school administrator. “We used to encourage students to attend classes regularly without absence and enlighten them about the consequences of cutting classes,” he added.

For Muhammad Al-Muhanna, the manager of a primary school in Riyadh, the problem could be solved with the cooperation of parents. “Many students do not attend classes with the knowledge and approval of parents,” he pointed out.

Ali Al-Khuwailed, a student, spoke about a practice among his friends before Eid holidays. “They will hold a meeting and take a joint decision not to come to school soon after Eid,” he explained. Some teachers also admitted that they usually are not keen to give lessons soon after Eid.

Many students said they do not like to have exams immediately after Eid as this will spoil the holiday mood. “I was not able to enjoy Eid properly thinking about exams,” said Maha Al-Mesfar, a university student.

Schools and universities in the Eastern Province hold midterm exams after Eid. “During the holidays we don’t get enough time to study and it would have been better if they postponed the exams by at least two weeks,” she added.

Long vacations make people lazy. A psychologist blamed the problem on the wrong way people spend their holidays. “Instead of taking rest or relaxing, we keep awake whole night. This disrupts the biological clock and affects our health, resulting in a lack of enthusiasm for work,” said Dr. Raafat Al-Owaisy.

Basheer Al-Mukhlef, the manager of a school in Hail, emphasized the need to rectify the situation by taking drastic measures.

Most government employees spend their first days at work exchanging greetings and discussing their Eid activities that continue for hours, said Ahmed Al-Oqaili, who works as a liaison officer for a private company.

Raja Al-Motairy, another Saudi, said he was surprised to see no one at a government office he visited after the Eid last year. “Later I learned that they were attending an Eid meeting organized by the head of the department. After the meeting they returned, but not to attend business. ‘Come tomorrow,’ we were told,” said Al-Motairy.

Turki Al-Malafikh, director of civil affairs in the Makkah region, and Khaled Al-Qamji, director of the Commerce and Industry Ministry’s office in Madinah, condemned the behavior, and said “it is unjustifiable”. “The employees should have the public interest foremost in their minds and do their jobs with responsibility,” they told Okaz.