Ever since the Adult Education and Illiteracy Eradication Regulation of 1972 was passed, the Kingdom has made great strides in the fight against illiteracy.
According to government statistics, the Kingdom's illiteracy rate has declined from over 60 percent in 1972 to just over 4 percent in 2012, thanks to the efforts of thousands of teachers who, despite their accomplishments working with elderly male and female students, are not recognized as full-time teachers by the Ministry of Education.
Alsharq daily reports about the decades-long struggle of these teachers to gain the same rights and benefits that are accorded to their counterparts in government schools.
Not recognized as full-time employees, teachers who have played a key role in making the government's illiteracy eradication programs a success are denied the salaries and benefits they would otherwise receive if they taught in public schools.
In 2012, King Abdullah signed a royal decree that put all female teachers in the country's anti-illiteracy programs on equal footing with their counterparts in government schools, but many teachers have complained about the way the decree was implemented by the ministry.
Up until the King's intervention, teachers in the programs had been employed on temporary contracts with low salaries that did not exceed SR2,500 for those with a college degree and SR1,500 for those with a high school degree. Most Saudis employed to teach in illiteracy programs have to commute to remote schools, which often means they leave home in the afternoon and return late in the evening. They were not entitled to maternity leave or any other benefits such as a pension on retirement. Their temporary contracts were renewed on an annual basis but the teachers were not given any vacation pay.
In some cases, their meager salaries were delayed for months at a time. Even though the royal decree improved their status and granted them permanent contracts, many teachers continue to suffer.
Azizah Adwah, a teacher in a government anti-illiteracy program, said, “I'd like to send a clear message to the authorities and convey to them our suffering as teachers. Most of us have spent a great part of our lives teaching elderly people who were illiterate. So, we were shocked when the ministry didn't take our years of experience into consideration when our status was changed,” she said.
When implementing the decree, the ministry did not calculate the years of experience some teachers had, which in some cases, spanned over 25 years. Instead, it only included the years of experience since the issuance of the royal decree in 2012.
“The ministry also failed to take into account that some of the teachers had approached retirement age and that by not including the actual years of service a teacher had before the royal decree was issued, they were essentially forcing teachers to accept a monthly pension that barely exceeds SR2,000,” Adwah added.
Lubnah Bahaidrah, another teacher, said she and her colleagues had always dreamed of the day when they would be offered permanent contracts and be treated like other teachers. When the royal decree was announced, Bahaidrah and her colleagues breathed a sigh of relief, but their happiness was short-lived.
“The ministry did not calculate the actual years of our service before the decree. When we asked why, we were told that it was because our work hours were only three, not six like regular teachers,” said Bahaidrah, while adding that some teachers work longer than the three hours the ministry calculated.
Teacher Umm Dawood said she had worked for 28 years on a meager salary of SR1,500. When the ministry gave her a permanent contract, it only took into account four years of her experience. This means that her pension, upon retiring, will be around SR1,000.
“How can they just waive off the 24 years I spent teaching the elderly how to read and write?” she asked.
