Zain Anbar and Sami Al-Maghmasi Okaz/Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH/MADINAH — A number of specialists believe that the Saudization of teaching jobs in private schools is difficult and cannot be achieved easily because Saudi teachers are not attracted to teaching certain subjects such as Islamic education, physical sciences or sociology. The specialists called for exempting private schools from the Nitaqat program as a result. They confirmed that there were no complaints from Saudi teachers about non-compliance by the school owners to increase their salaries and said the shortage of English language teachers could be filled by employing students who studied abroad under the scholarship program of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. Chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (JCCI) private boys schools committee, Malik Ghazi Talib, said the committee held a series of meetings with Labor Minister Adel Fakieh, asking him to exempt private schools from the Nitaqat program. Ghazi said the refusal to grant recruitment visas to a number of private schools would wreak havoc in the education sector with the start of the new academic year. He suggested not granting work visas only when there are enough Saudi cadres for the required specializations. Chairwoman of the JCCI's private girls schools committee Fareedah Farsi proposed granting special work permits to foreign women accompanying their husbands to teach at private schools instead of having to transfer their iqamas.
