ANGRY parents have demanded immediate solutions to problems they claim pupils have faced just two days after returning back to school.
They have voiced their concerns over allegations of hot and unclean classrooms, high prices of food and drinks in canteens, and students being crammed into buses and forced to stand, amongst other issues related to traffic flow and congestion, car parking and safe crossing.
Numerous parents who showed up at the Southern Municipal Council’s weekly majlis have also expressed discontent over the alleged ‘filthy and dirty’ conditions of toilets and washrooms in a number of schools, claiming they had not been attended to by cleaners.
Several videos posted on social media show students being left behind by bus drivers because vehicles were full to capacity, parents unable to get close to schools to pick up children in their cars and classrooms in need of repair.
More than 147,000 students were back to 210 government schools this week after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
A mother-of-three, who wanted to be identified as Umm Hamad, described the current situation in the school her sons attend as ‘exhausting’ for both pupils and staff members.
“Teachers and students were sweating and uncomfortable because the air-conditioning was not working,” she said, adding that several classes had to be moved to a sports hall.
“The educational environment should be healthy for everyone involved for the teaching and learning process to be productive,” she added.
Guest speaker, Parliament’s services committee chairman and former council chairman Ahmed Al Ansari, tried to reassure families saying that the ministry had been contacted and all of the issues conveyed to it for action.
“Some of the problems have already been fixed but there are others that will take time to solve,” he explained.
“There appears to be insufficient number of buses to cater for all the students wishing to use this form of transport, with only 700 under contract for 41,000 students, leaving more than 100,000 to fend for themselves.
“Imagine a full bus just ignoring students waiting at the last two or three stops because there were no seats or even space to stand.”
He believes more buses should have been placed under contract, at least to cover 50pc of the school population.
“It could have helped the situation where it’s too far to walk and students have to get their parents to drop and collect them leading to growing traffic congestion and jams.”
Mr Al Ansari said he was surprised adequate building maintenance had not been carried out before the schools reopened and checks carried out.
“That appears not to be the case or else students and teachers wouldn’t be sweating in hot classrooms or forced into carrying out lessons inside sport halls,” he said.
He added that the issue of toilets and washrooms was also irritating as details were outlined at a recent Press conference that some schools had not been included in a cleaning contract.
Meanwhile, the council’s services and public utilities committee chairman Abdulla Abdullatif said MPs and councillors had been urging ministry officials over the summer to check on preparations as schools returned to full capacity after almost two years of pandemic measures.
“There is no excuse for not enough buses, facilities not seeing full maintenance, sandwiches being sold at 500 fils each in school canteens, or students feeling sick every time they step inside a washroom,” he said.
“The problems faced during the first two days of the new school year should have been addressed months ago.”
Education Minister Dr Majid Al Nuaimi announced on Wednesday that the ministry would be providing 700 buses for 41,000 students, eight for students with physical disabilities and three for mental disabilities with caretakers. He added that there were 18 cleaning firms contracted to clean schools throughout the day.
The minister also revealed that 40 schools received full maintenance and 160 schools received partial maintenance during the summer, in co-ordination with the Works Ministry.
The Education Ministry said it was looking into the complaints and addressing the concerns of parents.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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