The photographs were taken in Mussafah Shabiya — a residential area in Abu Dhabi. There are many schools in this area and most of the villa schools in the city are supposed to be moved to Musaffah Shabiya sector 9 by 2013.
The photos were taken outside my school. The front gate of the school cannot function as road barricades and piles of sand for the road works are accumulated there. Walking in this area is a nightmare, as this area is also used as a car park for the parents who pick and drop their children. The situation is very dangerous.
Also the sand close to the main entrance blows along with the wind into the school compound, which adversely affect students’ health.
This scenario is due to the ongoing construction work for roads and some other civil works.
The concerned authortities should have given more attention to complete the work in that area in the past two months during the school vacations. All the parents were discussing the same before the school closed for the summer in July.
Now, schools have reopened. I think the contractor is responsible for this delay. The authorities can play a great role in solving this issue and give enough room for school pupils to walk and to make the area clean and tidy.
Residents cannot do much about this. They can only get agitated by talking to each other. Many parents have approached the school’s principal, but it is not the school’s responsibility. The parents then also approached the different authorities, but did not receive much response from anyone and hence they stopped their efforts without success.
In addition to this problem, the accummulation of plastic items and cigarrete waste is also an issue in the same area. Waste is thrown on the road and there are no street lights. Walking in the dark is not imaginable.
I think the authorities can help us solve this by speeding up the planned works.
The reader is a student at the Sunrise School in Mussafah Abu Dhabi.
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