Parents of schoolchildren have expressed dissatisfaction over the Ministry of Education's adoption of evening schools as an alternative to children attending schools in rented buildings.

These complaints come despite assurances from the Ministry of Education that the percentage of schools in rented buildings has dropped to 19 percent from 41 percent three years ago.

Parents say that rented schools have disappeared from neighborhoods only to reappear as evening schools in government school buildings.

They say that Ministry of Education statistics do not represent an actual reduction because the problem of double shifts remains. In Jeddah, for example, evening schools have been adopted by the ministry to replace rented schools, which are represented in the Jeddah Education Directorate.

According to the temporary website address set up by the directorate, 97 out of the 901 existing schools are evening schools for boys and girls. This means that evening schools actually represent 11 percent of the total number of schools. Combined with the percentage of rented schools, these schools account for 41 percent of the total number of schools, highlighting an inconsistency in government statistics. The Oqba bint Amer primary school, which was located in a rented building in the Mushrafa neighborhood, was shut down and the students were transferred to an evening school inside the Sebawaih primary school.

In Taif, for instance, parents have been told that rented schools are temporary, but the situation prevails despite promises for new government schools.

The supposed percentage decrease, parents say, is still on paper and parents consider the continuation of operating on rented premises as a bane for the future of their children.

These schools lack safety measures and suffer from a deficient educational environment, which affects learning. Parents fear unfortunate incidents might occur in these schools. They say rented schools in Um Al-Siba’s primary, intermediate and secondary schools don’t conform to Ministry of Education specifications.

Mohammad Al-Harithi and Bandar Al-Shahri said school evacuations have become a familiar scene.

Taif justified renting schools because of insufficient government land upon which to build schools, but many say this can be solved by coordinating with the municipality to provide land for schools.

The Education Ministry can also purchase land and spare children from studying in a non-conducive learning environment.

In Al-Khafji, 250 girls were crammed in a rented building, prompting their families to demand a suitable alternative.

Students attending the seventh primary and intermediary school in Al-Faisaliah neighborhood also continue to suffer the effects of this mismanagement.

The ground floor is allocated to the school’s administration and the second floor, which is made up of seven rooms, accommodates the pupils. School yards and classrooms are exposed to sunlight and rain.

Such buildings are not built to bear the load of several air conditioners working at once, which leads to countless electric cuts, disrupting the learning process and threatening students’ lives. Things are made worse by the absence of emergency exits, which even if made available would not be able to accommodate large numbers of students fleeing the building.

Parents cited an incident that took place in a primary school, when a stampede had injured two girls.

In Bareedah, many parents say evening schools are not a suitable alternative for government buildings.

The ministry, they say, should instead speed up the completion of halted projects instead of resorting to temporary measures such as moving students to evening schools, where overcrowding results in poor academic performance.

Ahmad and Faisal Al-Abood, both students, said they suffer while attending school in rented buildings because they lack basic school requirements. Classroom roofs routinely leak water during the winter and are too small to accommodate the large number of pupils crammed inside them.