The Ministry of Education has said that the way Monday's riot at the 17th Intermediate Girls' School in Makkah was handled by authorities was “blown up out of all proportion” and that there was no need for police intervention in the issue. The spokesman for the ministry, Fahd Al-Tayash, said that although intervention occurred “as a precaution”, it was “not necessary.” “Things got blown up out of proportion, as the incident was no more than response to the school carrying out regulations, and it was dealt with in accordance with educational regulations by the ministry,” Al-Tayash said. Al-Tayash revealed his annoyance at the interference of police. “There was no call such exaggerated precautionary measures,” he said.The spokesman for Makkah Police, however, said his men were simply doing their duty. “We received a call from the husband of the headmistress informing us that she'd been trapped in the school by pupils, and this prompted us to go to the site, as we cannot just sit by with our hands tied behind our backs,” said spokesman Abdulmohsen Al-Maimoun. “Entering the school is within our jurisdiction as long we do not encroach on the sanctity of the school.” Al-Maimoun added that the police response was to a “citizen in danger” and that female security staff were drafted in to “prevent the situation escalating and the occurrence of any criminal act”. Sources at the Education Administration said on Wednesday, meanwhile, that all the school's pupils would obtain their examination grades, ruling out the threat of academic punishment for Monday's events. Pupils at the school arrived on Wednesday morning for their grades among a beefed-up security presence, with female staff stationed inside the building and a police car presence outside the main entrance. Teachers at the school had been ordered to make no comments to the press, but girls waiting outside claimed later that the assistant principal had during the final days of examinations “treated them very badly”, by taking away their bags to search and then leaving them thrown haphazardly on the floor”. The assistant principal, Hasna Al-Fakhari – not “Principal Hasna Al-Ghafari” as initially reported - did not attend school Wednesday after being told by doctors to “rest for the good of her health”, but she told Okaz that the “poor level of education of the girls' families led to their lack of respect”. On Tuesday she said she had “shoes and books” thrown at her and that one girl openly threatened to kill her. “I was viciously attacked by 500 pupils because I'd done searches during which I confiscated mobile telephone-cameras and a locked mobile phone suspected of containing illicit recordings and images,” Al-Fakhari said. Al-Fakhari's husband has also spoken to defend his wife against pupil complaints that she was “continually horrible to them” by “banning them from using mobile telephones and locking them in classrooms”. “My wife has had more than one threat from pupils via phone calls and offensive text messages,” he said. “Most of the pupils are from Africa, and although I wouldn't want to make the whole thing out to be much more than the usual protests against school disciplinary measures, what happened shows a failing in the educational process because the authorities did not respond decisively to previous letters and warnings sent to the Girls' Education Administration.” “Action should have been taken against the pupils sooner,” he added. His comments were supported by remarks from the assistant head of Girls' Education in Makkah, Fatima Al-Layl, who blamed the families of the girls who she described as “out of control”. A five-member committee identified on Tuesday seven girls as the main culprits for the chaos which led to female prison wardens being sent to help the assistant principal who had locked herself in her office for safety. Sources said the committee concluded that the events, which involved acts of vandalism and, according to Al-Fakhari, a threat to her life, were sparked by the refusal of girls to allow their bags to be inspected by school staff as regulations demand. The committee's conclusions will be passed on to the relevant authorities to mete out punishments.
