Jeddah's Department of Education has admitted that it has been negligent in properly implementing safety requirements in the city's schools. This is a clear indication that education authorities are serious about rectifying the situation and finding solutions for the problem. The Department's admission that it has failed to implement safety requirements came during a meeting with a delegation of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) to discuss the recent disastrous fire at Bara'em Al-Watan girls' school which claimed the lives of three teachers and injured a large number of students. Dr. Abdullah Al-Thaqafi, Director of the Jeddah Department of Education, said that his department is working on a comprehensive project to pinpoint the causes of negligence in implementing safety requirements in all schools in the city. He promised that the Department will prevent similar fire accidents from happening in the future. That is a promise which must be kept. There must be no reoccurrence of such accidents. The tragedy that took place at Bara'em Al-Watan School makes it incumbent on all of us to ensure that such incidents do not happen again. Strict safety requirements and standards must be set not only for schools in Jeddah, but for all schools in the Kingdom. The Education Department's admission of negligence is a clear indication of its recognition of the importance of extensively studying school safety requirements and designing new mechanisms to deal with accidents in our schools. The NSHR advised the Department to provide training courses for male and female teachers on how to act in case of fires or other disasters and how to safely evacuate children from schools. Raising the awareness of teachers about such issues is important because our children should be provided with a safe educational environment free from any risks and dangers that might threaten their safety or negatively affect their studies. __
