At the beginning of January, the school was without power for 22 days due to a similar problem.
By MELANIE LIDMANWest Silwan elementary school 521(photo credit: Melanie Lidman: West Silwan elementary school)
For the second time in a month, 700 elementary school students in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan were forced to stay home from school due to an electricity problem that has left the school without power. Students were sent home yesterday after rain seeped into the temporary electricity box and cut electricity to the school.At the beginning of January, the school was without power for 22 days due to a similar problem, which the municipality has tried to fix in previous years. Most of the 22 days the students were on vacation, so the problem went unnoticed.Following an inquiry into the problem by The Jerusalem Post in early January, the municipality sent a technical crew the next day to try to fix it. But on Wednesday, Faris Khales, the head of the Silwan Parents Committee, expressed frustration that the workers were progressing very slowly.He also criticized the city for not providing the school with a back-up generator during the renovations.“They are not making any effort, so the kids are staying at home,” he said.A municipality spokesman said a technical crew from the city’s education branch was working in cooperation with workers from the Electric Company to fix the problem, and they hoped students would be able to return to classes on Thursday.The spokesman added that the students will most likely make up the lost hours of school during their spring vacation.
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