Private schools need more than 2,000 teachers in Islamic education and social subjects, said Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Haqbani, deputy chairman of Private Education and Training in the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The situation is all the more challenging because there is not a broad awareness that it exists and there are limited options for hiring qualified teachers, he said. “The problem is that we are suffering scarcity in specializations in which the society thinks there is abundance,” Dr. Al-Haqbani said. “Also, we are not allowed to recruit teachers from abroad in these specializations, particularly in Islamic education and we cannot cover the shortage from within the Kingdom.” The matter has reached a point that those teaching the subjects are not qualified – teachers who have specialized in Arabic language teach Islamic education and other who have specialized in the sciences teach social subjects, among other examples, he said. Dr. Al-Haqbani attributed this shortage to a decision in 1996 to stop teaching specialized subjects because there was an abundance of graduates. Social and security circumstances since then have changed, which has created a need for more graduates in Islamic education, he added. Security and military sectors, the Ministry of Justice and other offices have hired all of those graduates and caused the shortage, he said. The shortage was exacerbated when students felt that there was no demand for graduates with specializations like Islamic education and social subjects and fewer of them joined those departments, according to Dr. Al-Haqbani. The shortage in teachers in these two specializations is one reason for low standards in private schools, which are forced to look for teachers without specializations, he said. Dr. Al-Haqbani expressed regret that “neither the Ministry of Education is studying this matter nor is the Ministry of Labor giving it any attention.” In another development, the Human Resources Fund will formulate a plan that would force private schools to appoint male and female teachers in permanent jobs rather than in temporary positions that culminate with the end of the academic year. The Human Resource Fund will pay the salaries of teachers working in this sector. An official source said Dr. Ahmad Al-Zamil, Director of the Human Resources Fund, informed the ministries of Education and Justice in a joint meeting that his organization needs their support to force private schools to appoint male and female Saudis in permanent jobs that ensure social insurance coverage. According to sources, Al-Zamil was told the matter was not under the ministries' jurisdiction, which forced him to develop the plan without relying on them.
