Ibrahim Shihab
JEDDAH — The Education Affairs Directorate has shut down an international school for causing disturbance in the neighborhood.
Jeddah Education Affairs spokesman Abdulmajeed Al-Ghamdi said the school was located in Al-Hamra District before it had to be temporarily moved to Al-Rowdah.
“The municipality reported to the Education Affairs Directorate that the rented school building was not licensed. The municipality did approve of the school renting the building because the people of Al-Rawdah did not want a school in their neighborhood because it would cause a lot of disturbance,” said Al-Ghamdi.
He also said the school had 550 students and the people living in Al-Rawdah did not want the disturbance the students would cause.
The international school’s principal Hajar Al-Halawni said she was not aware that the renting of the building was against any regulations.
“We contacted the owner of the building and he rented the building to us. We have been paying our rent regularly. The directorate’s reason to shut us down came as a complete surprise to me,” said Al-Halawni.
She added the directorate decided to shut the school down at the beginning of the semester disturbing the studies.
“Parents are concerned about the future of their children. The time to shut the school down was not studied well. Students cannot just simply transfer to other schools after the semester had already began.
“The directorate needs to review its decision and have the students’ best interests in mind,” said Al-Halawani.
She said the school management met with the Education Affairs Director demanding a more fitting solution to the problem.
“The directorate informed us that they will come up with a solution within the next week. We cannot afford to lose so much time. The parents have already went to the directorate to protest and demand a solution that will secure their children’s future,” said Al-Halawani.
She added the school does not have any record of violations. The school had to relocate due to inheritance issues with the owner of the previous building.
Mansour Ainousah said the school used to be located in Al-Hamra District but it had to be relocated due to legal issues.
“The school administration had asked months ago about possible solutions for the situation at the time, which was to relocate the school. They gave us a list of new locations and we voted on the building in Al-Rawdah District. It was not an optimal solution as the school became so distant,” said Ainousah.
He added that the parents received a message from the school on its Facebook page that the second semester was postponed by a week.
“A week later we received another message informing us that the school will be permanently shut down because even though the school received the directorate’s approval to relocate, it did not receive the municipality’s approval,” said Ainousah.
