RIYADH – Private and international schools will not be exempted from the ongoing raids to catch labor and residency law violators, Ministry of Labor spokesman Hetab Al-Anzy has clarified following rumors that private schools were granted a three-month reprieve from the security campaign. “There is no truth in the reports about giving an exemption to private schools. The inspection campaign will cover all firms and institutions, including schools,” he reiterated. Teachers and other staff members of many private schools received messages from school authorities claiming that an agreement has been reached between the ministries of labor and education to postpone raids at schools until the beginning of the second semester of the new academic year. This prompted a large number of teachers to report for duty on Tuesday after they stayed indoors on the first day of the post-amnesty period. Noura Al-Amri, member of the private education committee at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), said that owners and operators of many private schools received e-mail messages about the alleged agreement between the two ministries. But its authenticity is yet to be verified. Apart from inspection raids, another major reason for the failure of a large number of teachers to stay away from schools was that they did not receive any formal notification from the Ministry of Education about the result of the qualifying test held recently. School authorities are also facing the no-show of support staff, especially cleaners and canteen workers. Khaled Al-Jowairah, chairman of the private education committee at Sharqiya chamber, said many schools are facing an acute shortage of cleaners and canteen workers. Moreover, many guardians are preventing female teachers from going to schools for fear of inspection raids. Most teachers are apathetic to transferring their sponsorship to schools as this would lead to losing many of the allowances they are enjoying as dependents of government and private sector employees. There are reports that hundreds of schools have been badly hit by the current scenario. Several parents complained that drivers of school buses did not pick up their children. On the other hand, school authorities are in a helpless position due to the no-show of a large number of teachers who are not under the school's sponsorship. Faiza Turkistani, head of a kindergarten in Jeddah, said that they are not in a position to teach children as most teachers stayed indoors. “What pained me most was that even the deputy head of the school, who is an Arab national born and brought up in the Kingdom, failed to show up,” she said. According to reports, more than 200,000 students have been affected by the crisis following the end of the amnesty period.
