JEDDAH — The Ministry of Education has instructed that women have to be assigned as teachers in the fourth grade of elementary schools in the private and foreign education sector in the Jeddah governorate, effective from the next academic year of 1444 AH. The ministry's directive came in an urgent circular sent to the Department of Education in Jeddah. Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, informed sources at the ministry said that this decision is applicable to private and foreign schools in the Jeddah governorate only. "This directive is implementing in the Jeddah governorate on an experimental basis, and this may be applicable to all regions of the Kingdom later," the sources said. The ministry clarified in the circular that this decision vis-a-vis grade four comes in tandem with the success achieved after application of assigning the teaching of students from the first to third grades of elementary level of the private and foreign girls' schools to female teachers. "The ministry also desires to continue creating stimulating environments for teaching and learning as well as to support investment in the private general education sector," it was stated in the circular. It was noteworthy that the Ministry of Education announced in the beginning of the school academic year in September 2019 before the outbreak of coronavirus that women would be teaching boys up to the third grade of elementary public schools for the first time in the Kingdom. The ministry had said that hiring female teachers is part of an initiative that falls under the Early Childhood Schools Project, which incorporates a special program to better facilitate elementary school students' transition to their next phase of schooling. The project was implemented after conducting several scientific and behavioral studies to determine the most efficient methods of early education, the ministry said. The studies found that female teachers bring benefits to education. According to the ministry, one major benefit of the program is the presence of female teachers in classrooms eases communication between teachers and parents.
