Saudi Gazette report QUNFUDA — Some 200 schoolgirls from a village in Qunfuda governorate boycotted classes last week after the local education directorate decided to transfer them to a school outside their village and teach them in morning and evening sessions, Al-Watan reported. The Education Administration said the school building in Al-Jard was unfit for use and this measure was implemented to protect their safety. Several parents said their daughters have stopped going to the new location due to the lack of space and services. They demanded the official authorities form an urgent committee to study the situation and find a more suitable building in the village. The parents said the building in which the elementary and intermediate students were studying was recently built and posed no danger to them. Maj. Ibrahim Al-Sharidi and Ahmad Al-Sharidi, Saudi nationals, said the building was constructed 10 years ago. They said a committee from the Ministry of Education decided during a visit to the building that it was unfit for use. Two weeks ago the Education Administration told parents it would transfer students to Al-Mudhlif Primary School in one of the neighboring villages, they said. Marei Rashed and Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Sharidi, Saudi citizens, said the building was able to accommodate both sets of students. Several engineers checked the building and said there was no danger. The building to which the female students were transferred did not have emergency exits, sufficient restrooms and an adequate school canteen, said the parents. The students' decision to stop going to school was down to their guardians being too busy and the difficulty of transporting them to their new building, claimed the parents. The students are also being harassed as the school is near playgrounds where boys gather, it was claimed. The female students were asked by the school to explain the reasons for their continued absence. In a statement, director of the local education directorate Ali Ibrahim Al-Sheikhi said the school was vacated in adherence to a ministerial decision following inspections by specialist technical teams. He said they could not find a better alternative location and said the decision to transfer the students was in their best interests. The distance between the old and new buildings was just three kilometers, he said.
