Ashghal completes safety measures around 669 schools to welcome new academic year

As the new 2025/2026 academic year approaches, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced the completion of all school zone safety measures around 669 schools across Qatar and development of 53 existing schools, including upgrading fire protection systems. Such plans, Ashghal said in a statement, aim at protecting students and ensuring the safety of road users during school drop-off and pick-up times, along with ensuring the highest standards of safety and security towards enhancing the efficiency of educational facilities.This is done in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. Ashghal also plans to improve 140 schools within a comprehensive plan that includes developing fire protection systems, enhancing educational, recreational, and sports facilities to help provide a safe educational environment that supports the learning process. The plan also covers the reconstruction of seven existing schools to meet the latest global standards and specifications in design and equipment. Project Engineer Dana Saeed Al-Saiari from the Building Projects Department explained that the Ashghal, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, has carried out a wide range of development and improvement works in 53 existing schools.These included upgrading fire protection systems in line with the highest international standards, as well as introducing advanced technical and operational enhancements that improve the efficiency of the buildings and the overall quality of the learning environment. On the other side, Eng. Abdullah Al Maraghi, Road Safety Engineer, said that the school zone safety strategies cover the road networks surrounding 673 schools in various areas, as part of the School Zone Safety Programme, since the start of the programme in 2013 until now, which is being implemented in coordination with all relevant authorities. In this context, Ashghal has also undertaken comprehensive preparations over the past months to enhance road infrastructure and implement safety measures to facilitate traffic flow. These technical and essential improvements represent an important step towards providing a safe and sustainable school environment for all community members in the new academic year. The improvements include the installation or upgrading of clear and prominent traffic signs, as well as the inspection, maintenance and installation of speed bumps and pedestrian crossings to alert drivers to slow down at school entrances and exits. These enhanced measures aim to improve pedestrian visibility in areas surrounding schools, while enforcing the minimum speed limit of 30 km/h. In addition, further road safety measures have been adopted to regulate traffic flow during peak times at school entrances during drop-off and pick-up hours. Moreover, road markings, such as pedestrian crossings and stop lines, are being repainted to ensure maximum clarity for road users. In addition to expanding and repaving sidewalks adjacent to schools to provide safer pedestrian pathways capable of accommodating larger numbers.