IT has long been known in Saudi Arabia that female teachers traveling long distances to their assigned schools are risking their lives. A study released last October by King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology showed that female teachers commuting to their jobs were 50 percent more at risk than the average Saudi to die in a traffic accident. And that is saying a lot given that nearly 6,000 people died in road accidents in the Kingdom last year, a rate of 21 for every 100,000 people in the country. Obviously, something is very wrong. Teachers are assigned to the schools that need them, a common practice in most countries. In Saudi Arabia, it is not unusual to assign a woman who lives in a population center to a school in a small village more than 100 kilometers away. Given the state of the roads in some isolated areas of the Kingdom, coupled with a serious lack of training on the part of drivers, and the atrocious driving habits of many motorists here, perhaps we should be surprised that even more people are not killed in their cars. The government must find a solution to the inordinate level of traffic deaths among commuting female teachers. Above all, the safety of the Kingdom's citizens is paramount, but there is also the possibility that young women who look at such commutes with trepidation will opt not to go into teaching profession, leaving the girls of the Kingdom educationally underserved. It is instructive that what would seem the most obvious solution - building housing for female teachers in the town or village of their employment - failed because most female teachers refused to accept the accommodations offered. Not only did they reject the housing, the women were extremely reluctant to take up residence as single women, a situation far more difficult than that faced by single male teachers. The only real way to remedy the situation is to seriously reassess the role of women in Saudi society and finally grant them what they deserve. The right of women to drive must be recognized. With appropriate training, women behind the wheel will be a much safer option than forcing them to ride with men whose driving habits are often frighteningly dangerous. Teachers should be society's most valued members. A teacher's gender should make no difference. When it does, it is the society that stands to lose the most. __
