KUWAIT CITY, Dec 21: With the country experiencing the rainy season, public schools are faced with a crisis in terms of dealing with the problem of high water saturation. Their administrations continue to suffer from the consequences of insulation. This problem leads to dozens of other problems in school facilities that are difficult to deal with by the concerned authorities, reports Al-Rai daily.

An educational source said, "The problem of high saturation level exists in various schools, both old schools and the new ones that recently entered service in West Abdullah Al-Mubarak and Jaber Al-Ahmad.

The Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) was at a loss as to how to repair the insulation of new schools with the presence of solar panel cells on rooftops of the schools. The rooftops of many old schools are worn out, their structural elements have deteriorated, and their concrete eroded. They may need to be demolished and rebuilt because normal maintenance will not work."

The source explained that the engineering affairs departments in all educational zones are currently taking some proactive measures in preparation for the rains expected to fall in the country on Friday, the most important of which is cleaning the water fountains and ensuring the effectiveness and safety of the drainage networks to avoid flooding, as well as ensuring that the school rooftops are clean and wired to prevent the accumulation of rainwater.

The engineering teams did not ignore this problem that bothers the school administrations annually, but the matter is related to the maintenance companies. The engineering team visiting the school notes the problem in an official report on the school’s condition and sends it to the concerned authority. Unfortunately, in many cases, the response of companies is slow due to several considerations, the most important of which is the lack of manpower.

There are many reports submitted by schools to the educational facilities sector about problems of this kind. Other schools requested a structural inspection of their buildings as a result of the appearance of cracks resulting from the rust of the reinforced steel or the fall of the concrete cover from the building structure.

The source said, "Some air conditioning machines - separate or central units - drain on concrete surfaces. Engineering teams are working to connect extensions to the network to prevent leakage of air conditioning water to concrete surfaces, and treating surfaces that have purulence by isolating them completely and informing their departments not to wash the floors with water and stick to only wiping.

The facilities sector had previously issued a circular to all schools not to install water tanks on the rooftops before verifying the ability of the concrete surface to bear the weight of the tanks filled with water. Also, in the event that the air conditioning units are replaced by the central air conditioning system, it must be ensured that the concrete ceiling is capable of bearing the weight of the a/c compressors to prevent any cracks in the ceiling due to increased weight pressure on them."