The Education Administration in Jeddah has said that it has no authority to prevent the advertising of private home tutoring in city streets or look into the persons who offer those services. Salem Al-Tuwairiqi of the Administration's Student Counseling Division at the Ministry of Education made the statement in response to renewed complaints from owners of commercial and residential buildings who say the advertisements “defile their property”. “The administration can only address the relevant bodies, which it did, to prevent the practice and pursue the persons responsible through their advertised telephone numbers,” Al-Tuwairiqi said. According to him, education regulations ban private tutoring, a practice he described as “completely unacceptable”. “It serves neither pupils nor education and it puts financial pressure on pupils and parents, not to mention the sullying of shop walls, private houses and public facilities,” he said. “There are alternatives at Education Service Centers, which help pupils in need of extra assistance in certain subjects, under the full supervision of each region's Education Administration,” he said. “Jeddah alone has 18 centers which provide tutoring at nominal prices of between SR200 and SR300 for 12 lessons per subject,” he said. “Pupils can get group and individual tutoring at the centers, or home tutoring with teachers sent by the centers,” he said.
