BISHA, 4 November 2007 — Clashing tribal students recently disrupted classes and damaged 11 cars at an educational institution in Renya in Bisha region, according to Muhammad Al-Shahrani, the director of Al-Ghafa Educational Complex.
Al-Shahrani said he had requested stern action from the Ministry of Education against students who disrupt the peaceful academic atmosphere by bringing tribal disputes into schools. He also reported the matter to the police chief of Renya.
Al-Shahrani said such fights occur every year. The Renya Shariah court ordered the public lashings of several students who sparked tribal fights in the school three years ago though the punishment had no deterrent effect, Al-Watan daily reported yesterday. “The real mischief-makers this year were only 25. Half of them will shortly be transferred to other schools,” said Al-Shahrani.
In another development, teachers in various preliminary schools in the Riyadh region expressed their unhappiness and embarrassment at the increasing trend on the part of some students’ guardians of entering classrooms during school hours. The guardians ignore the authorities, who are always ready to listen to their complaints and take appropriate action, the teachers complained.
“When a parent receives a complaint from his son, the guardian goes straight to the class concerned while the teacher is teaching and abuses the teacher,” said a primary school teacher.
Ahmad Al-Qadi, a primary teacher, said that one day a parent entered the class while he was teaching and asked his son to identify the boy who had attacked him the previous day. Al-Qadi, however, took the parent outside the classroom and explained that the proper method to solve the problem was to meet the principal whose duty is to help.
On another occasion, a parent came to class and brought a boy from the back bench to a front seat after forcing a front bencher onto a back seat, Al-Qadi said. Some parents come and stand near the window of a classroom to see how the teacher was teaching, he said.
Another teacher, Sami Al-Bahli, said several parents did not know how to behave. They shout and abuse teachers. He said a parent once ordered him to devote all his attention to his son, ignoring the other 39 boys in the class.
Student adviser Faiz Al-Shahrani appealed to parents to understand that solving the problems related to their sons is the joint responsibility of the school authorities and their teachers and so guardians should not directly go to classrooms and demand an explanation from the teacher.
The guardians should approach the principal and other competent authorities in order to solve their problems, he pointed out.
