The Ministry of Education is scheduled to launch an educational council that would explore problems facing private schools in Saudi Arabia. The council would also facilitate coordination between governmental and private sectors in education. The council would tackle several issues facing private and foreign schools, such as Saudization, improving the abilities of teachers and improving their educational methods, and rehabilitate them to become more proficient in their respective fields. Abdulkarim Al-Hukail, General Manager of the Education Department (Girls) in Makkah, is scheduled to open the first session of the council for private and foreign schools on Monday, with the participation of more than 200 investors in private education, at the Jeddah Education Center. “This council is the first of its kind,” said Mohammed Youssef, head of the Foreign and Private Education Council in Jeddah. “It will discuss several themes concerning private sector education and its development.” Youssef added that the council aims to support coordination between government and private sectors to help improve education. “There are more than 250 private and foreign schools in Jeddah,” he said, “so we are trying our best to realize our aims to help the sector, especially with coordination between the stakeholders of private and foreign schools on the one hand, and the Ministry of Education on the other, to overcome the difficulties that face education in Saudi Arabia in general.” He said the council will help private schools apply rules and regulations, which will get them better results. “The council also supports Saudization by informing the (private) schools about the extent of its necessity,” said Youssef. “For example, we aim to cooperate with training centers and pioneering schools to rehabilitate teachers and give them a better opportunity to attain better proficiency in their fields.” He said one of the most important issues the council will discuss is reducing dependency on non-Saudi teachers. “We will discuss the reasons why non-Saudi teachers continue to be needed, whether it is due to a shortage of Saudi teachers in some subjects or in specific fields,” he said. “So once we are sure of there being an urgent need for non-Saudi teachers, we are going to work to make it easier for (private) schools to recruit more non-Saudi teachers and to facilitate sponsorship procedures.” Youssef also said that the ministry is going to launch a website for the council, as well as an SMS service and hot lines with education management to inform people about the positive role the private and foreign schools play in society. Private schools may also establish a common training center to prepare Saudi female staff in several fields in the education sector. Youssef said the difficulties that face teachers are also some of the main concerns of the council. “We will listen to the teachers' problems and find suitable solutions for them,” he said. “The problems that are going to be discussed are delayed salaries and social security.” __
