The Ministry of Education announced recently that it would implement a policy to allow schools to suspended classes in the event of adverse weather conditions. The policy essentially outlines that school administrators must evaluate the dangers of rain, high winds or other types of weather conditions.
According to this newspaper, classes may be suspended once the danger is determined “during or after the beginning of classes.”
This is a major step by the ministry to ensure the safety of primary, middle and high school students, particularly since Saudi Arabia has seen more frequent instances of rainfall and flooding over the past decade or so. According to the ministry, canceling classes can also occur when dust storms limit visibility to 500 meters or less or with winds from 50 to 69 kilometers per hour.
Not announced in this new policy is exactly how it will be implemented and when education officials at the time of a crisis will call off classes. Particularly troubling is the implication that school will be cancelled during or after the beginning of classes.
As we have discovered since 2009, Jeddah’s civic infrastructure is poor and the city is prone to flooding even during a modest rainfall. Given that we have no public transportation to speak of and many of the city’s streets are in disrepair or under refurbishing and construction, traffic is heavy and usually a mess. Combined with the sloppy driving habits of motorists, retrieving children from school will be chaotic and might take hours.
The key to implementing a sound policy that guarantees the safety of students is to determine how responsive educators will be to reading and predicting the weather. Since meteorologists have the ability to predict the weather at least 24 hours in advance if not longer, it makes sense for school officials to determine early whether classes should be held. It’s likely that students will be stranded at school if heavy rainfall hit the region while they were in class. Suspending classes during this period would have little impact in protecting the safety of children.
It would behoove the ministry to establish a hot-line with every Saudi and international school so suspending classes will be consistent throughout the region. In addition, texting and sending faxes to the ministry and schools are inadequate. Parents also must be informed, which should include texts, television news announcements and pre-recorded automatic phone calls. The ministry should also consider school infrastructure when determining whether to hold classes.
Countries that regularly deal with extreme weather conditions throughout the year have contingency plans in place to deal in advance whether to suspend classes. According to the ministry’s new policy, the Civil Defense Department and the ministry’s Security and Safety Department will receive reports and “pass them onto the relevant bodies,” but there is apparently no mechanism in place to notify parents.
The new policy is a wonderful first step to ensure the safety of school children. It’s certain that the ministry is studying how and when to notify parents, but the sooner the ministry announces the details of the plan the more likely parents will be better prepared to respond to an emergency.
