More than 60 parents have protested outside a public school in Sanabis, Bahrain over allegations of rat infestations, power cuts and unhygienic conditions.

They gathered outside the Sanabis Primary School for Girls yesterday along with their children, area MP Adel Hameed and former area MP Ali Shamtoot, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

They claim the school is located in a dilapidated building that is infested with rodents, lacks proper sanitation facilities, and does not have an in-house nurse to care for the pupils aged between five and 11.

One Bahraini mother, Eman Ahmed, said her nine-year-old daughter was afraid to attend classes because of the rat infestation.

“The school is so old and has no maintenance at all, not to mention that the water supply has been cut off for two weeks now,” she told the GDN.

“There are rats everywhere and they are left to reproduce. My daughter tells me everyday how frightened she is to go to her school because she is surrounded by rats.

“We are even worried that the ceilings will collapse on our children's heads as we heard that it happened once during summer break.

“Children cannot even turn on the air conditioner in the summer because there is no electricity supply most of the time.

“On top of all this, there is no school nurse.

“Some children have serious health conditions and need immediate treatment. These are children for God's sake.”

Another concerned parent said her 10-year-old child suffered from a urinary infection because she refused to use the school's toilets, which she described as filthy.

“My daughter refuses to use the school's toilet because it is dirty and there is no water most of the time,” said Ebtihal Isa.

“Now she is suffering from an infection.”

A Bahraini woman, who was a teacher at the school for 20 years, said children and staff had to endure such 'vile' conditions for years.

“There have always been rats and the condition overall has always been terrible and it is even worse now,” said the 47-year-old, who wished to remain anonymous.

“Teachers, including me, find rats inside clothes and everywhere else.

“It is worse in winter because rain causes floods in the school's campus.”

Meanwhile, Hameed urged the Education Ministry to relocate the students to a new campus in the village.

“The school's building is dilapidated, old and unfit for further use,” he told the GDN.

“It is located at the entrance of the village which causes bottlenecks in the morning and afternoon.

“The land on which the school is located is not owned by the ministry, but rented since many years ago. They pays huge amounts of money for the rent.

“The school is also too small and is not suitable for the number of students going there or the number of people living in the area.”

Shamtoot claimed the ministry had earlier promised parliament that two plots of land would be allocated for new primary and intermediate schools in Sanabis, but have since been used for other projects.

“Parliament and the municipal council discussed the problem with the Education Ministry between 2011 and 2015 and they promised to allocate two plots of land for primary and intermediate schools, but now the land is being used for other projects,” he added.

“The school's facilities lack sanitation and there are rats and lizards everywhere.

“However, we won't agree with distributing the students among other schools because the nearest school is located out of the village and most of the parents here live in humble conditions and not everyone has personal transportation.”

However, the ministry yesterday said it was studying several options to resolve the ongoing problem.

“The school is one of the old rented schools that is being regularly maintained to serve its purpose,” it said in a statement.

“The ministry is working on finding solutions and substitutes according to what is feasible, including establishing a new school for the area which begins with allocating a suitable land.

“Specialised teams, in collaboration with the Health Ministry, are constantly following up to solve the rat problem but they keep appearing again and again because they enter the school from outside the campus.

“However, collaborative arrangements are still continuing with all authorities to root out the problem.” - TradeArabia News Service