RIYADH, 17 August — More than 60 Saudi female teachers gathered at the Presidency for Girls’ Education headquarters in Riyadh on Wednesday to press for their transfer to new regions in the Kingdom.

The move drew a quick response from Dr. Ali Al-Murshid, president of the PGE. He set up an emergency committee to look into the issue and authorized them to take immediate action. The presidency, he said, would be happy to honor all the transfer applications.

However, he pointed out there are certain conditions which the teachers must fulfill in order to be eligible for transfer, as the list was prepared on the basis of seniority, specialization, the demand for transfer and the presence of replacements for those wishing to change posts.

The teachers who gathered at the presidency came from a number of cities and wanted to meet officials to lodge their complaints personally. Some of them had applied to be transferred as long as five years ago, and they said they wanted to teach in regions where they could be near their families.

Saudi Red Crescent volunteers were on hand near the presidency to extend first aid services to teachers suffering from fatigue after demonstrating for so long in the midday heat.

The presidency chief told the women that he did not want them to lose their jobs for objecting to transfers. He said the committee would look into their problems within two weeks.

He added that the teachers’ complaints would be considered when the next transfer list is issued and denied the accusations by certain teachers that colleagues who had less service than them had somehow won the right to be moved to the school of their choice. There were also complaints that certain names had been repeated in the new list.

Murshid told Arab News that the presidency has so far been successful in transferring one third of all applicants. A total of 3,430 teachers got a transfer from the 12,049 applicants who applied. Some 8,384 requested transfers to Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Dammam.

Some of the teachers who gathered at the gate on Wednesday were allowed to meet officials from the Agency for Educational Supervision.