JEDDAH — Up to 67% of private schools in Jeddah face closer if they do not relocate from rented housing units to their own school buildings in one year as instructed by the Ministry of Education. There are at least 279 such schools serving 106,000 pupils and employing 15,000 teachers and staff members, said Dakhil Allah Al-Suraisri, supervisor of a study submitted to the ministries of education, commerce and investment, municipal and rural affairs and the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority. Al-Suraisri told Saudi Gazette that they conducted the study in cooperation with the studies center at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) in order to highlight the issues and obstacles that these schools will face if they are to move from their current locations to their own school buildings. The two main problems, he said, are the lack of space to build schools that comply with the regulations of the municipality and the unavailability of finance for investors. He urged the Education Ministry to provide plots of land to investors on long-term lease as is the case with investors in the medical and industrial fields. He said that the ministry has 1,200 locations that can be rented to school investors on long-term lease. "Government schools won't be able to accommodate pupils who will be leaving private schools if they are closed," said Al-Suraisri, adding, "Already some government schools operate in two shifts. In Jeddah alone the government itself is renting 300 buildings." According to the study, there are 416 private schools in Jeddah, 67% of which are located in rented housing units. These schools have a total number of 155,000 pupils and 21,000 teachers and staff members. Meanwhile, Malik ibn Talib, the head of the private school committee at the JCCI, said that there will be a major problem if this decision is implemented. "Where will these pupils go and what about all those job opportunities that will be lost?" asked Talib. There is, however, a positive response from the Ministry of Labor and Social Development which has agreed to drop the Saudization percentage in international schools from 30% to between 15% and 10%. Talib added that the ministry has also decided to give one new driver visa for every two buses that a school owns.
