Ahmed Al Mohannadi
From time to time, we keep receiving news about administrative problems in Shafallah Centre. We read in newspapers and hear on the TV programme — Good Morning Dear Homeland — some remarks about Shafallah.
I personally receive dozens of calls and messages from parents and staff, who are talking about the shortcomings of the Shafallah Centre, which I have written about in a previous article.
Still most recently, I have received a lot of feedback concerning complaints about salary cuts of some staff due to deficiency in administrative procedures.
There is also mention of Centre lacking maintenance with broken air conditioners, floating sewage in corridors, causing inconvenience to staff and students, which is also worrisome to parents.
There are some staff members who complain that the administration deals with them inappropriately and that their attendance procedures are complicated.
The employee needs to fill in many forms in order to be able to take few hours off or to leave early, and has to hand over the signed form with approval to the doorman before leaving the centre.
It is like treating staff like sheep or prisoners, not employees who should be respected and appreciated.
When this same employee comes back, he has to offer a testimony that he was at the place where he claimed to be before leaving, which is very unusual.
Routine procedures are full of useless forms signalling a lack of trust between administration and staff.
Why? There are no answers!
Officials are interested in improving the external image of Shafallah Centre without taking care of its administration.
Where are the new buses that were promised? Where are the qualified teachers?
Where is the right person who supposed to be in the right place?
Where are the good communication networks, the healthy food cafeteria, and so on and so forth?
Some administrative staff gave false information to the media about medical issues, instead of saying that they do not really know and leave it to the experts.
When will Shafallah officials focus on the home front and care about issues like education, treatment of our dear ones, and take care of the staff for the sake of solving their problems! It is better for them than being busy with their bright external image in a deceitful way.
How long will the inferiority complex of some Shafallah officials continue? This is stopping them from learning from their experiences and from the major mistakes that ousted those who preceded them.
Why are there frequent observations and complaints about Shafallah?
Is it logical that all those complaints about Shafallah appearing in the mass media are malicious?
If this is the case, let the officials talk to us and explain the causes of the problem and reveal the facts to people and the community.
However, if all these complaints and observations are correct, the centre’s Director-General should thank the community and the media for such a great service that is helping improve the level and quality of their work. He has to pay attention to the pulse of the street, which reflects the opinion of the community.
Here, I like to extend my sincere thanks to the Minister of Education and leaders of the Higher Education Committee who hosted us as media professionals to talk about local issues.
I like to thank them for having an open dialogue with us, as well as explaining the cause about any confusion or misinformation that we may have.
We hope that the Shafallah Centre administration and other organisations, especially the ones that have strong connection with Qatari society, will do the same.
As things are not changing in Shafallah with and there is no convincing explanation from officials yet, I think that the complaints will continue and the tragedies of people with disabilities and their parents will increase.
Also, the centre’s staff continue suffering, which might lead to some of them ending-up with multiple mental illnesses.
We ask God for safety and sound health for all!
