JEDDAH — The newly launched General Education Evaluation Commission will evaluate all private schools in the Kingdom, according to the deputy minister of education for education affairs. Speaking at a seminar on investments in education at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) on Wednesday, Abdulrahman Al-Barak said the private sector invested a total SR11.5 billion in education institutions in the country. He said the private sector involvement in educating special needs children is very low. “We expect each private school to devote 10 percent of its capital to special education,” said Al-Barak. He added that the ministry would work to create an attractive investment environment in the sector and minimize routine procedures. He said investors could make use of abundant financing facilities for their projects. This year alone, 72 soft loans have been approved for investors in education, he said, adding that the conditions to obtain these loans are “not impossible to meet.” The seminar, entitled Investment in the Private Education: Reality and Solutions, was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labor, the Human Resources Development Fund and the Civil Defense as well as representatives of school owners. The deputy minister noted that the literacy rate in Saudi Arabia is rapidly rising with only 4.5 percent of men and 9.5 percent women remaining illiterate. Asked why his ministry appointed school managers without leaving the decision in the hand of school owners, Al-Barak said he “will look into that.” Hatoon Al-Fasi, a private school owner, raised a number of problems faced by private schools in the country, starting from the impossible Civil Defense conditions, huge expenses for training Saudi teachers who eventually leave the institutions, soaring rents, which rose by more than 30 percent in recent years, and the ministry's refusal to grant permission to raise school fees. “Fees shall be decided by the market forces of demand and supply,” said Al-Fasi. Al-Barak said his ministry would not hesitate to allow schools to raise fees if they give reasons to justify such increases. “Schools that are not given approval are those who did not provide convincing reasons,” he said. Abeer Ghazawi, another private school owner, said 75 percent of private schools in the Kingdom might be forced to close down in two years because of new requirements set by the Civil Defense. She argued that rented buildings should not be a reason to close down the schools if the buildings were regularly maintained. Another investor said the Civil Defense “is talking about a virtual world and we are talking about the reality.” He said, “There are rented schools, which are not fit. Yes, we know that, but we do not own all schools. The regulations you are forcing on us are not even implemented in your own directorate. All these will only contribute to reducing investment opportunities.” Abdullah Al-Shugaithri, director of general safety at the Civil Defense, said his force considers itself as “partners of the public and not bosses”. “We want you to understand that we have a responsibility toward you, the students, the parents and the public. We are under focus of the media and on top of that we need to fulfill our duties,” he said. Al-Shugaithri explained that their aim was not closing down schools, but to ensure safety of all. “Before we close any school we try to solve the problem and send a team from our headquarters in Riyadh. However, there are red lines that no one can cross. We cannot even allow a grace period for crumbling school buildings.” The number of fire accidents in schools surpassed that in petroleum establishments though the latter are high-risk locations, the Civil Defense official pointed out. In 2011, 403 fires with 3 deaths and 110 injuries were documented in schools. However, in petroleum establishments only 168 fires with 14 injuries and no deaths were documented in the same year. Fires can break out in school premises for many reasons, including the use of faulty wiring, gas cylinders, overload and random connections, said the official. He added that the main challenge the Civil Defense faced was the difficulty in reaching locations of fires in schools. According to Abdulrahman Al-Rashid, head of the human resources rehabilitation at the Ministry of Economy and Planning, private schools constitute 11 percent of all schools in the Kingdom. The Saudization rate in these schools is 59 percent, with the majority of employees being women. “Our goal is to increase the private sector contribution to education to 25 percent. We want the Saudization rate in these schools to hit the 70 percent mark,” said Al-Rashid. He added that 15 percent of school buildings were owned by the investors themselves. Only 2 percent of these schools had a capital of SR500,000 or more. The government provides a total of SR61 million in annual grants to private schools and this amount is expected to double in the near future, Al-Rashid said. The main challenges facing investors in the field are lack of land, absence of much needed government support, delay in getting licenses and the difficulty to find qualified teachers, said Al-Rashid. Abdulminim Al-Shihri, head of the labor office in Jeddah, said they would start issuing electronic visas online in three months. He said this in reply to an investor who criticized the delay in obtaining visas, especially for drivers and workers at schools. A Human Resource Development Fund representative stated that the fund offers SR2,500 in monthly financial aid to every Saudi teacher for a period of five years. This aid is provided even if the teacher moves from one school to another, he said. The total financial aid provided to teachers so far reached SR1.5 billion. According to the HRDF, there are 1,657 private schools with some 56,000 teachers — 9,000 of them Saudi women and 2,400 Saudi men. The majority of teachers are in three regions — Riyadh, Makkah and the Eastern Province.
