Haifa schools fail the safety test

Most schools in Haifa have serious safety and sanitation flaws that pose a danger to students.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Most schools in Haifa have serious safety and sanitation flaws that pose a danger to students, according to a survey carried out around the city in recent weeks by the Hebrew weekly Yediot Haifa. But although the municipality says it will fix all the faults by the time school resumes on September 1, some of the schools are still being used by children during the current summer vacation for catch-up classes and various activities. According to the report, most of the elementary, middle, high and special-needs schools in Haifa show signs of neglect and have safety and health risks such as broken stairs, fences and playground equipment, unbarred windows, and rust. In some schools, broken chairs and metal items, some of them with sharp edges, lie abandoned in school yards, while in other schools untended dry vegetation poses a fire risk and provides a hiding place for snakes and rodents. The yards of some schools were pitted with holes, and in at least one school water was leaking from broken pipelines. "If the city does not locate and remove these traps in time, they could cost lives," one parent said. A municipal spokesman said the city had budgeted NIS 4 million for renovations to schools and kindergartens during the summer vacation, and said the safety flaws would be repaired as part of this. The spokesman said that even though the city had not yet received funds from the Education Ministry for the work, it would still have all the buildings ready in time for the beginning of the coming school year.