JEDDAH: All schools in Jeddah reopened on Saturday following a weeklong spring holiday except the First Elementary School for Girls. Students and parents who arrived at the school on the first day back were surprised to find the school closed and undergoing construction.
Parents complained that they were not given prior notification that the school would not be open on the first day of the second term.
Some parents, who were in a hurry, dropped their children off in front of the school and left. They had no idea that their daughters would not be allowed entry.
“This is a very serious situation. We demand an immediate explanation,” said one of the parents, adding that not only were students and parents left surprised by the closure, teachers also had no idea what was going on.
Another father said that after waiting at the school for some time, a woman teacher told him that the school building was not open to students.
However, Ahmed Al-Zahrani, assistant director of the Department of Education for the School Affairs, said the school did take pupils and that several parents panicked when they saw the construction work.
He said the school’s principal was asked to contact parents to inform them about what was going on and to assure them that studies would not be affected by the construction work.
He said the Department of Education usually carries out repairs and maintenance work at schools during holidays. “This time, the vacation was too short so we were not able to complete the repairs in time,” Al-Zahrani said.
He explained that the construction work inside the school would take place in the evenings and that classes would continue as normal during school hours.
