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GOVT PRIMARY SCHOOL IN FUJAIRAH HAS NO LANDLINE CONNECTION

A government primary school, believe it or not, here has remained with no landline telephone connection since its establishment a few years ago.

The Al Buraq School remained virtually disconnected from the world, without telephone, fax, or even an Internet connection, ever since it was established in the year 2000.

“This is very dangerous because the school premises is so far from the nearest urban area that we can’t communicate or report any case of emergency to the authorities in due time,” said Shaikh Butti Abdullah, the school principal. The school resorts to the use of fax at the nearest boys’ school, which is a good ten minute drive away from them. Not only this. “We are unable to log into the web site of the Ministry of Education to be updated about the ministry policies for students’ enrolment and the calendar of the academic year,” she added.

The school, located in Shookah area, has a kindergarten, primary, as well as elementary classes. “We have students from different age groups who need urgent medical care or protection against accidents and emergency cases that might arise,” she said. “All the efforts we exerted with the concerned authorities in the RAK Educational Zone (REZ) to provide us with a landline were in vain on the ground that no financial resources have been earmarked for this purpose,” she added. The Sharjah Etisalat Office said that, due to its remote location, the school needs special telephone cables that cost Dh88,000. “This is too much and we can’t afford it due to the school’s limited resources,” she said.

Abdullah pointed out that the school entirely depends for the time being on only one mobile telephone. “Mobile phone network has so many problems, causing us to remain out of reach, sometimes for long hours,” she said.