JEDDAH: The Education Department and the weather bureau appeared to have been caught in the eye of a storm on Monday, a day after a ferocious sandstorm brought life to a standstill in Jeddah.

Interestingly, the Met department claimed that a warning about the storm had indeed been issued to the Education Department.

People were caught unawares in the absence of a warning, but students were particularly hit hard and schools became a topic of discussion, local media reported.

The focus fell on schools as photos of students caught in the dust went viral on social media, sparking a debate as to why were all schools not ordered shut and why some schools allowed children to leave without parents.

However, officials of both the Education Department and Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) issued conflicting statements, the report said.

Education director Abdullah Al-Thagafi was quoted as saying that his administration decided not to suspend classes for two reasons — lack of visibility was not less than 500 meters and the wind speed did not exceed 55 km per hour.

Al-Thagafi’s statement contradicted the announcement by PME spokesman Hussein Al-Qahtani that the wind speed exceeded 60 km per hour.

The PME had issued a warning to each relevant authority, including the Education Department, said Al-Qahtani, adding that the decision to suspend classes is the prerogative of the Education Ministry and not PME.

Al-Thagafi said schools were not instructed to remain closed on Sunday because students are appearing for various tests these days. At the same time, he criticized some schools who did not wait for parents to come and allowed the students to leave.

Social media published photos of a girl standing in the middle of a road after she left school because of the storm, with citizens saying that keeping schools open that day was a mistake and that children were exposed to health hazards.