The fire that swept through a girls’ school in Mecca in March, 2002, which killed 14 girls, was a seminal event for Saudi Arabia. It brought into public question the role of Saudi religious police as well as the effects of an archly conservative social and religious attitude toward life. Saudi Gazette, translating an article from its Arabic sister-paper Okaz, suggests that some of the problems identified back in 2002 still exist and represent a threat to the lives of other young Saudi women in the Eastern Province. There’s no reporting on other regions in this piece, though I suspect that it is not exclusive to the Eastern Province.

The problem is that building and safety inspectors—universally male—have not been permitted to inspect the myriad rental properties now being used as girls’ schools. (The government has not been able to keep up with demand for new, purpose-built schools.) As a result, buildings which do not meet safety standards continue to do serve as schools, but the extent of their problems remains an unknown.

I think that inspectors could do their jobs when the schools are closed—weekends and school holidays. Alternatively, the government could develop women’s abilities to work as inspectors. Best, of course, would be for the Saudis to relax a bit about the ‘mingling of the sexes’ and realize that having men and women in the same place does not equate with an orgy of licentiousness.

Fire breaks out in girls’ school in EP
Muhammad Odaib

DAMMAM – At least 250 students were safely evacuated from a private girls’ school in Hinakyah after fire broke out on Saturday morning, authorities said.

Four teams of firefighters in minutes tackled the blaze which started in an electricity transformer, Col. Mansour Al-Dossari, spokesman of the Civil Defense in the Eastern Province, said. A short electric circuit was believed to have caused the fire.

Saturday’s fire marked the sixth incident in girls’ schools in the Eastern Province since the beginning of the new academic year two weeks ago.

Earlier, Lt. Hamad Al-Juaid, chief of the Civil Defense Department in the province, said the girls’ schools in the province have shown gross neglect for the basic safety measures, putting the lives of young students on the edge. This is a legal negligence on the part of the Girls’ Education Department in the province, he said. Some schools have been rented from private parties for more than 13 years lacking basic safety measure, he said.

The Civil Defense authorities have not been allowed to examine safety checklist in the girls’ schools to bring them into compliance with safety laws, he said. – Okaz