More than 70 percent of private schools plan to close because they cannot afford an increase in salaries of male and female private-school teachers to SR5,600 per month, Abdurrahman Al-Haqbani, vice chairman of the National Committee for Private Education and Training in the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said here Sunday. Owners of these schools have started offering their institutions for sale and stopping their functions, Al-Haqbani told Okaz/Saudi Gazette. There are 3,275 private schools in the Kingdom, 2,360 of which (72 percent) are small institutions that will close – and result in the loss of a large number of previously announced job vacancies, Al-Haqbani said. Al-Haqbani asked how such small schools will be able to pay a salary of SR5,600 to the teachers when they are now paying them SR2,500 salary, a SR600 transportation allowance and a SR650 social-insurance allowance. Al-Haqbani mentioned a proposal referred recently to four ministries – Commerce, Labor, Finance and Education – for graduates to work as teachers. The proposal calls for minimum salaries of SR6,000; the Ministry of Finance, school owners and the Human Resources Development Fund would each contribute SR2,000. __
