Manama: Three more schools were targeted in new acts of vandalism in Bahrain, bringing the total number of learning institutions attacked to 153 over two academic years.
“Saboteurs started fires at the gate and wall of an elementary school in Dair,” the education ministry said, referring to a seaside village in northern Muharraq, the country’s second largest island.
“The attacks also targeted a girls’ elementary school in the second assault on the same learning facility in one week. Saboteurs broke the water tanks and pipes in the school. In a third case, the windows of the laboratory in an elementary and middle school for boys were smashed. The intent in this case was to steal the fire extinguishers. However, the school guard foiled their attempt and they fled the scene,” the ministry said.
The police are investigating the new incidents.
The ministry last week reported spending 1.5 million Bahraini dinars (Dh14.4 million) to repair the damage caused by acts of vandalism that targeted 148 of Bahrain’s 206 government schools.
Ministry officials said that the incidents have had a psychological impact on the students and have affected their performance.
They said that 5,200 individual cases needed treatment and that most of those affected were in the elementary levels.
