800 new schools to operate this year

The Ministry of Education’s undersecretary for boys’ education said regional education departments had received 800 new schools in the past few months. Speaking at the annual meeting for principals of Saudi academies and schools abroad, Abdulrahman Al-Barrak said the ministry hired this year more than 140,000 men and women teachers.
The ministry seeks a different beginning of the new academic year. It is working on expanding the authority of school principals as part of its development projects, he said.
The ministry’s secretary-general of education departments, Rashed Al-Ghaiyad, said implementation of the maintenance and restoration plan for schools would finish by the end of this week, before the beginning of school on Saturday. However, in some schools, maintenance work would continue until the end of the semester, he added.
According to Al-Ghaiyed, the maintenance of school buildings is the responsibility of regional education directors.
The secretary-general said the ministry receives weekly reports from education departments that include follow-ups on teachers, buildings and curricula.
He said the new schools would be operating this year. The contracts for these schools were signed three years ago as part of the ministry’s plan to tackle the issue of classroom overcrowding and end the use of rented buildings.
In Al-Ahsa, the education department will open 18 new boys’ and girls’ schools provided with the latest educational equipment, as well as 32 kindergartens. Secretary-General of the department Ahmad bin Hamad Al-Buali said teachers would be undergoing training courses during the first week under the supervision of the department’s training administration.
He added that the committee on new academic year preparations, of which he is vice-chairman, had finished delivering textbooks to all schools before Ramadan. A contracted specialist company will finish in a month equipping all schools with safety measures. All schools were provided with the necessary equipment and furniture.
In a related development, Hayatona Charitable Society for Health Communication called for reducing the weight of pupils’ school bags.

It said a bag’s weight should not exceed 20 percent of the pupil’s, as more than that would cause back pain and problems in shoulders and neck. It also called on the Education Ministry to strengthen control on school cafeterias, especially because of increased complaints by parents who say health standards are not properly enforced at some schools. It is necessary to provide a varied and healthy breakfast low in calories and fat. The society’s secretary-general, Abdulrahman Al-Qahtani, called on teachers to work on inculcating in the minds of pupils healthy lifestyle concepts and behaviors through extracurricular activities.