Laura Bashraheel Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Parents of thousands of expat students are growing increasingly anxious about the academic fate of their children as private schools remain closed for fear of inspections by joint teams made up of personnel from the ministries of labor and interior as well as the Passports Department. Umm Khaled, a housewife, said her three children have not received even a single hour of class after the reopening of school Saturday because of the absence of teachers. Fatima Al-Omar, mother of a Grade 3 student, said these campaigns were affecting her daughter's education. “How long will this continue?” she asked. Doaa Fouad, mother of four, said that her daughter and youngest son have not gone to school ever since she received a call from the school administration. She said the fear of raids is not only limited to schools, but even women salons are panicky about this. “Yesterday at a salon they had their employees ready to wear customers' robes in case the Passports Department personnel came to check,” she added. Asma Muhammad, mother of two daughters, asked as to why schools which did not have enough visas to hire teachers opened doors for students in the first place? Muhammad Sayed Ali, an Egyptian national, said that he was paying more than SR7,000 annually and wanted the school to solve the problem or refund the tuition fee. “This is not my problem; I want the school to fix it. I did not ask them to employ teachers who are not on their sponsorship,” said Sayed Ali, whose school-going son is now sitting at home. However, the Ministry of Education denied reports that it has closed any private or international schools. Muhammad Al-Dokhaini, spokesman of the ministry, said that the ministry was closely following up the matter. “There has been coordination between the ministry and the concerned agencies in this regard and these agencies have assured us that they have so far not conducted any such raids. The schools are functioning normally and the reports about such raids were rumors and baseless,” he said. Al-Dokhaini emphasized the ministry's keenness in ensuring smooth functioning of all educational institutions in the Kingdom so as to serve the interests of students and not to affect them in any way. Meanwhile, Ali Al-Ghamdi, public relations official at the Department of Education in Riyadh region, confirmed that about 50 percent of private schools have closed down due to rumors. A large number of female teachers stayed indoors out of panic, he said. “The ministry's regulations prevent teachers from working at schools that do not belong to their sponsors. It came to the notice of his department that some schools are violating the law in this regard,” he said, adding that a committee, represented by the ministry and some other agencies, issued a warning to such schools that they must face penal action. “If these schools failed to correct their status, they will be put under red category and eventually would face a closure.” Confirming this, Col. Badar Al-Malik, spokesman of the Passports General Directorate, said that the directorate has so far not carried out inspections of any educational and health institutions. However, he said, the directorate will step up raids in Riyadh, Jeddah and other cities and regions to nab iqama (residence permit) and labor law violators. Malik Bin Taleb, head of the private schools committee at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said some foreign teachers at private schools in the city, failed to show up at schools due to fear of possible iqama clipping by the officials. – With SPA ‘Throwing out the baby with the bath water'
