School held responsible for death of student
ABU DHABI CASSATION COURT UPHOLDS AL WOROOD’S CLOSURE
Abu Dhabi’s highest judicial institution has ruled that Al Worood Academy Private School is responsible for the death of a four-year-old in a schoolbus in 2014. The school will therefore remain closed, the Abu Dhabi Cassation Court has ruled.
The school was first ordered to shut down at the end of its 2014-2015 academic year following the death of kindergarten pupil Nizahaa Aala’a in October 2014. Aala’a had been locked inside a schoolbus, and the Cassation Court concluded that this pointed to a lack of compliance to health, security and safety standards by the school in a way that endangers the lives of students.
As reported by Gulf News, the school, which had about 1,900 students enrolled in 2014-2015, was formally investigated by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) following the child’s death.
Investigators found that Aala’a was locked in the schoolbus between 7am and noon and eventually succumbed to heat exhaustion.
Adec ordered the school to shut down, but the school filed a lawsuit challenging the permanent closure decision. The Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance upheld Adec’s closure decision and also handed out punishments and fines to the institution and its employees. The case was then forwarded to the Cassation Court that has now upheld the closure verdict.
A private school here has been held responsible for the 2014 death of a four-year-old child, and the closure of Al Worood Academy Private School has been upheld by the Abu Dhabi Cassation Court.
The school was first ordered to shut down at the end of its 20142015 academic year following the death of four-year-old Nizahaa Aala’a in October 2014.
Aala’a, a kindergarten pupil from India, had been locked inside a school bus for five hours and succumbed to heat exhaustion. The Cassation Court, Abu Dhabi emirate’s highest judicial institution, concluded that this pointed to a lack of adherence to health, security and safety standards by the school in a way that endangered the lives of students.
As reported by Gulf News, the school, which had about 1,900 students enrolled in 2014-2015, was formally investigated by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) following Aala’a’s death. Investigators found that Aala’a was locked in the school bus between 7am and noon. She had eaten her breakfast and drunk all the water she was carrying.
When she was finally discovered, Aala’a had been dead for at least two hours. She was found near the door of the bus with injuries to her head and in a position that suggested she had been banging the door for help.
According to the investigation, the school had not notified Aala’a’s parents of her absence from school, despite strict Adec regulations that specify parents must be informed if children do not come to school. The school also did not check to reconcile bus logs with class attendance, and such a step might have allowed an earlier discovery that Aala’a was not present in school despite boarding the bus.
Closure order
The Adec ordered the school’s closure at the end of that academic year, and offered alternative school seats to all students. It took over the supervision of the school for the remainder of the year, and also rejected the school’s appeal to continue operations.
The school then filed a lawsuit to challenge the closure decision, arguing that Aala’a’s accidental death had been an isolated incident. This was rejected by the Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance, which upheld Adec’s closure decision.
The school then appealed the closure at the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeals, but it also upheld the closure verdict. The case was then forwarded to the Cassation Court, which again upheld the verdict. The Adec highlighted to the Cassation Court that it holds the right to immediately cancel a school’s licence if the institution is found to be grossly negligent of students’ health and safety.