The department has welcomed the intervention of the parents and has started responding to the schools’ demands, which it had allegedly ignored for more than a year, sources at these schools told Arab News.

They considered this a new and effective method of encouraging the education department not only to listen to the demands of the schools, but respond to them straightaway.

The sources said staff at the 25th Girls Intermediate and Secondary Schools in Khamis Mushayt called for a meeting involving students’ mothers and asked them to put pressure on the department to supply the two schools with telephone lines in order to be able to communicate with families and officials.

They said a girls’ elementary school that had merged with an intermediate school in the region had asked the mothers to contact the department and ask it to split the school again.

They added that the school also asked the mothers to convince the department to provide it with more transport facilities, as there is only one mini-bus for 300 students.

“This is an effective method of getting things done quickly. The Department of Girls’ Education, which would not heed our request in the past, is now very quick in its responses,” said a woman teacher, who did not want to be named.

According to the sources, the most pressing needs for the women principals included constructing new school buildings, as the rented buildings were deemed unsuitable for teaching and unsafe.

“It is not unusual to see snakes and other creepy-crawlies in the rented buildings, forcing us to seek the help of the Civil Defense to get rid of them,” one principal said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education said it was not against parents contacting departments of education on behalf of the schools.

“This is a peaceful method of speeding things up. The ministry does not at all mind parents contacting the education departments in person on behalf of schools,” a source at the ministry said.

He said the school administration has every right to use all available resources to have their demands answered.