Saudi Gazette report

TAIF — The Ministry of Education has withdrawn the powers to suspend classes from university rectors and heads of education departments of education in case of bad weather and other emergencies.

The power to take such decisions is now vested in a central committee headed by the deputy minister, the Arabic daily Al-Madina reported recently.

The ministry said before any decision to suspend the studies, the committee should liaise with the governorates of the regions, the General Authority for Meteorology and Environment (GAME) and the Civil Defense Directorate in the region.

The committee is composed of undersecretaries for boys and girls education at the ministry, director general of the Civil Defense for safety and security and the director of the department of education in the concerned region.

The ministry noted that some school heads and directors of education departments had been suspending classes in the instance of the slightest warning by GAME of possible rains or storms.

It said during the past academic year many cases of suspension of classes took place, a matter that had gravely affected the education process.

According to the ministry, some university rectors and directors of education were influenced by pressure from parents via social media.

According to informed sources, the formation of the committee would absolve the school heads from embarrassment resulting from the suspension of classes in the wake of uncertain weather warnings.

There are 2.4 million boys and 2.6 million girls in government schools and 333,817 boys and 225,363 girls in private schools in the country.

In addition, 154,011 boys and 173,373 girls study in various international schools across the Kingdom.