MANAMA: A licence for a private school suspended in 2013 was officially revoked yesterday by the Education Ministry.
However, Sanabil Private School owner Rudaina Al Alawi told the GDN she was shocked by the news and had not been independently informed.
She also alleged she had been in “consistent contact” with the ministry regarding the status of her school.
“The ministry has previously agreed to suspend the licence for two years starting from October 2013,” the ministry said in its statement.
“This was in order for its owners to finish building a school.
“The licence thus ended in February 2015 and was not renewed, despite the ministry sending letters regarding this topic.
“The licence has, as a result, been withdrawn under Article 28 of Law 25 in 1998 regarding private schools and institutions.”
However, Ms Al Alawi shared numerous letters with the GDN that included communication with the Education Ministry, as well as relevant approvals from the Interior Ministry, regarding the issue.
“I am completely at a loss as to how they can do this without a warning and without communicating with me,” she said.
“I wasn’t allowed to renew the licence because they said I had to complete the relevant procedures for the new school building.
“The reason that the licence was suspended in the first place was to allow us time to build, but that has been fraught with difficulty in getting different approvals.
Approvals
“I’ve been working on getting this building since 2011 and even accepted to have 35 per cent of my land repossessed by the government for roads, without payment.
“I had to get approvals from the various entitles to build, including the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca) to ensure it’s not a heritage site and the Electricity and Water Authority (EWA).
“All of that took another eight months.
“I was then told that the land had to have its classification changed from agricultural, and that took six months.”
Letters from the Education Ministry dated November 2016 requested papers that included ownership, building drawings, as well as further permissions from various government entitles.
“I sent them all the documents they asked for and the whole thing has to be approved by the Higher Committee for Planning, which is chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier,” she said.
She claimed the matter was initially delayed by the committee, which then asked for additional information.
“The delay now has been since 2011 to get the land classified as special projects, which it needs to be in order for the school to be built,” she said.
“The Education Ministry also has to approve the plans of the building, which I sent to them, which they still have not done.
“I check back monthly to see what the development is and I’m not really sure what else I could do.”
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