JEDDAH,8 April 2007 — Egyptian expatriates are calling for the establishment of schools that teach the Egyptian curriculum allowing their children to continue with their education when they return to their homeland.

The request was made with the backdrop of reports that over 200,000 Egyptian students, who are residing in the Kingdom, are ready to undergo final year school exams in the Egyptian curriculum at the Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh and the consulates in Jeddah and Dammam.

Ahmad Abdulrahman, an Egyptian residing in Jeddah, said that his son attends a local school in the morning where he receives education under the Saudi curriculum. At night he studies the Egyptian curriculum to allow him to pass the Egyptian curriculum exam.

“I don’t know when I might leave the Kingdom, but if I had to leave soon and my son hadn’t passed the Egyptian exams then he wouldn’t be accepted at a school in Egypt,” he said.

Muhammad Basyoni, who is also an Egyptian expatriate, said illegal schools that specialize in teaching the Egyptian curriculum are emerging. He added that most parents have no choice but to enroll their kids in such schools.

“Since this phenomenon is increasing, why not make it legal and regulate such schools so that we don’t go through extra hassle,” he said, adding that they have the right to have such schools especially since other nationalities have legal schools that teach their country’s curriculum.

A source at the Egyptian Consulate, who requested anonymity, said that the Kingdom did not allow Egyptian schools because of an Arab League regulation, which states that no Arab country is allowed to teach their school curriculum in another Arab country.

The source added that the regulation deserves reconsidering. He added that the current practice of holding exams at embassies and consulates have also delayed the establishment of such schools.

Exams that are held at the diplomatic missions test pupils on all core subjects, but not subjects such as Arabic calligraphy and computer science. Exam papers are in the Arabic language.