Jeddah's Education Department has been tackling the habitually high rates of absenteeism in the week prior to the end-of-year examinations with increased school-parent coordination and extra-curricular activities. Both public and private schools have been registering unusually high attendances for the period in which absence rates up to 80 percent are considered the norm. At Al-Tadhamun Al-Islami Primary School, Principal Ibrahim Al-Furaidi said that 95 percent of pupils had been turning up. “Communication between the school and parents has been fighting this ‘culture of absence',” Al-Furaidi said. “The Education Office in the district of Al-Naseem studied the issue of absenteeism and produced recommendations for schools to follow. It has helped in curtailing both pupil and teacher absences.” Text messages from schools have been asking parents to assist in efforts to eradicate a prevailing attitude among both students and staff which can be summed up in “stay at home and revise for exams”. Abdul Rahman Al-Dakhel Secondary School held award ceremonies for pupils who took part in Education Department competitions, and its school sports day. Principal Ayed Al-Shahrani said that of the school's 805 pupils only six percent failed to attend over the week. At the private Al-Ta'awon School, a range of extra-curricular activities were laid on to keep up attendances, and intermediate headmaster Abdullah Aal Towala said that an absenteeism rate of “only 15 percent” had been achieved. “We've been offering several incentives for pupils to come, including gifts,” Aal Towala said. Some of the activities include extra revision classes. “They help us in revising instead of us doing it at home and missing the World Cup,” one pupil said. Saudi Gazette reported on June 13, meanwhile, that Al-Madina Arabic daily had observed staggering levels of pupil absence in the province of Asir during the period leading up to examinations. The report cited an absence rate of 80 percent in schools in Abha and Khamis Mushayt, a figure described by a local education official as “normal” for the period. “The week before examinations habitually sees absences of between 50 and 90 percent,” the official said. The report also said that the Control and Investigation Board had warned teachers and other staff in Asir schools against tardiness or absence. The Board ordered that absences of five days or more since the beginning of the school year be immediately reported “without exception”.
