Female schoolteachers in the town of Band Al-Ajour are sore at the Ministry of Education's decision to terminate their services and replace them with teachers many of whom allegedly not possessing the same experience or qualifications. The teachers, who were working on a paid-by-the-hour basis, said the decision came without warning and that they had expected to be given full-time contracts. The teachers were taken on after finishing Intermediate College, whose graduates were used to supply the region with cover for the shortage in staff, and claim that their employment applications have been ignored by the Ministry of Civil Services because they have diplomas and not university degrees. They also complain that most of the teachers who have been brought in from other regions are Islamic Studies and Qur'an graduates who have been assigned to teach other, non-related, subjects. “I graduated from the college in 1999 and signed a contract to teach in the Eradication of Illiteracy Program, hoping I would be appointed as a full-timer later on,” said a teacher identifying herself only as S.M. “I was surprised to find that my seven years' experience counted for nothing, and the ministry terminated my services and brought someone else in.” Another teacher said she had worked for 11 years on hourly rates of pay only to suddenly find herself replaced. “What methods do they use to select teachers?” she asked. “I have a diploma in Maths and Science and a degree in English on top of five years' teaching experience, but none of this helped me to get taken on full-time.” Salem Al-Dossari, Director General of Girls' Education in Najran, said that teachers were brought in on a paid-by-the-hour basis and were not contracted for a specified period of time. “Out of consideration for their circumstances and appreciation of their services to the field of education,” Al-Dossari said, “we have registered their names among the teachers of evening classes, substitute teachers for instructors on maternity leave, and teachers in the eradication of illiteracy program.” “We are dealing here with job numbers and not names,” Al-Dossari continued. “When we need teachers, we ask the Ministry of Civil Service to supply us with a certain number, and because this procedure takes a long time we hire temporary teachers and pay them by the hour until the official teachers arrive.”
