Taif school fails to renew rental agreement; kids eat on the street

About 400 pupils at the Suhaili District’s Malik Bin Ouf Primary School in Taif were forced to spend their breakfast break on the street because the school had not renewed a rental agreement with the new owner of a walled area adjacent to the school where pupils previously ate their meals and conducted extracurricular activities.
The new owner of the property said that he had no choice but to close the area to students as the Education Department did not respond to his requests to either renew or discontinue the contract.
The blame for the imbroglio appears to lie with the contracts division of the Taif Education Department, which did not renew the rental contract for the space despite the new owner’s frequent visits to their offices to renew the contract. Parents were critical of the Education Department, saying it should have provided an alternative area as long as there was no contract to use the usual space.
“Isn’t it enough that a government school building is not yet available?” said Abu Saad. “Our sons wander the streets looking for a place to eat because of disputes that we have nothing to do with. Some of the children are sick with diabetes and other illnesses, not to mention the fact that accidents may happen,” he added.
Saad Al-Otaibi, another parent, wondered who was responsible for the children being in the street. “They are very young and unaware of some dangers and they could be hit (by a car) or fall. The (education) department must be questioned by the ministry because they neglected our sons.”
The new owner of the walled area told a local newspaper that the expired contract that the school signed with the previous owner expired a month ago.
“I went to contracts division at the Education Department 3 months before the end of the contract seeking either to have it extended or to have the area returned to me. Month after month I was there with no results, so I was forced to prevent the pupils from entering the walled area.”
An official at the Education Department said that the contract is in the process of being renewed, adding that the owner has no right to prevent pupils from entering the walled area. Nevertheless, he said students may be transferred to another school and study in the evening until the problem is resolved.