If I had the authority of the education minister, the first decision I would make during my first day in office would be to immediately stop building schools. The reason for this decision is that the current building plans do not take into consideration the proper role of a modern school.
The problems that the present school buildings face have nothing to do with leaky pipes or power cuts but rather with the way they are designed. This is totally traditional and it is this kind of school and the teaching that goes on there that we want to put behind us in order to keep pace with the rest of the world. The rest of the world is moving forward faster than the proverbial hare while we lag behind like the tortoise.
In particular, girls’ schools do not meet the requirements of contemporary schools. They lack spacious classrooms, electronic boards and suitable chairs.
The girls also need clean bathrooms, laboratories for scientific subjects, English language and perhaps other subjects, a functioning library, special rooms for teachers and green spaces where they can do simple exercises in order to stay fully fit and awake instead of feeling lazy and sleepy in class.
Whether for boys or girls, the schools should have restaurants or cafeterias with healthy and hygienic foods, car parks in order not to bother residents in the neighborhood, and nurseries and kindergartens for the children of teachers.
School buildings should not be accepted from contractors unless a committee, which is well aware of the specifications, approves them; otherwise the teachers, students and administrations will be accepting schools that are new on the outset but are simply unsuitable for the needs of both students and teachers.
Halting the construction of new school buildings would save us millions of riyals, which we could spend on proper schools rather than on the buildings.
Spending large amounts of money on traditional school buildings is a waste, which will not be acceptable in the future. The present buildings cannot be considered complete and are not in line with the modern role of the school if we are truly planning for the future and not just for the day.
We want schools that are suitable to the Kingdom’s position in the Arab and Islamic community as well as in the world at large; the schools should also be commensurate with the Kingdom’s revenues. It is the right of the citizen to have proper schools for his sons and daughters. The schools must be properly equipped or otherwise the educational development of the students will be hindered and the country will suffer eventually.
