المملكة: Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam are in “Category A”… a new classification for the requirements of private schools

Issued Ministry of Municipalities and Housing A comprehensive system of regulatory requirements for private educational buildings in the Kingdom, aiming to bring about a qualitative shift in The quality of the educational environment and ensuring the highest levels of safety for students and working crews, by achieving precise engineering integration between urban standards and educational requirements, in full compliance with the Saudi building code and approved traffic regulations.

The new regulations are classified Educational buildings with utmost precision based on the approved age stages, starting with nurseries for children under three, and kindergartens for three to six years old, all the way to primary, middle and secondary schools covering age groups up to the age of seventeen.

The Ministry treats a school as an integrated “educational complex” if it embraces two or more academic stages for boys or girls, excluding from this classification the nursery and kindergarten stages due to their operational specificity.

Setting planning standards

The Ministry divided Saudi cities geographically into three main categories to set planning standards, where category “A” topped the major cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Medina, and the capital of Dammam, while category “B” included cities of one million, and category “C” went to cities with a density of less than one hundred thousand people.

The requirements granted unprecedented investment flexibility by allowing the establishment of nurseries and kindergartens within residential neighborhoods. In independent buildings, without obligating the investor to change the building permit from residential to commercial, which facilitates the access of services to the people.

The regulations also permitted the integration of nurseries and kindergartens within government buildings to serve employees, on the condition that one school per building is sufficient, in addition to allowing their presence on the ground floors of existing educational or commercial buildings according to specific controls.

Flow of traffic

And in a regulatory step for foreign schools and community schools, the practice of Its activities are within parts of existing educational or commercial buildings, provided that the number of students does not exceed 170 students in the commercial building, with the necessity of providing independent entrances and private school transportation.

The Ministry set strict standards for geographical location, as it obligated schools to be located on two streets, one of which is no less than 25 meters wide, while it limited itself to requiring one street with a width of 15 meters for independent nurseries, to ensure the flow of traffic.

It imposed Requirements: Precise safety distances to protect students, prohibiting the presence of kindergartens and nurseries at a distance of less than 50 meters from gas stations and gas stores, and 250 meters from the intersections of the main crowded commercial streets.

Preventing the use of asbestos

With regard to student density, the regulations set the minimum floor area allocated to each student, so that it is not less than 4 square meters in kindergartens, and increases to 5 square meters in Educational complexes, to ensure that there is no overcrowding.

The Ministry has technically stressed the prohibition of the use of the completely banned material asbestos in educational buildings, while obligating the facilities to apply the specifications of the Saudi Standards and Metrology Organization (SASO) in all electrical and mechanical equipment.

The regulations obligated educational facilities to install advanced security surveillance cameras covering the site in accordance with the applicable security regulations, while allowing the placement of billboards on the facades in a way that does not distort the scene.

Compliance with regulatory standards

The Ministry required obtaining a municipal and operational license before starting any activity, warning against operating buildings after the expiration of licenses or adding unlisted activities, to ensure continued compliance with regulatory standards.

The requirements also made it possible to build internal housing for students within the campus of the educational facility, provided that it is in a building completely separate from the classrooms, to ensure comfort and privacy.

These regulatory moves come to unify technical standards, Stimulating investment in the private education sector, while improving the urban landscape of cities and ensuring a safe and stimulating environment for the new generation.

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