JEDDAH, 28 May — In Saudi Arabia, soccer is the national obsession, and everyone will be glued to their TV screens for the duration of the World Cup.

Of course, the fortunes of the Saudi national team will be uppermost in everyone’s mind.

However, the timing of the World Cup means it will take place during the peak period of local school and university examinations.

The clash is causing anxiety for students preparing for their exams — and for their parents and teachers trying to guide them through the experience.

Saleh Al-Homrani, a supervisor of Islamic studies at a school in northern Jeddah, told Arab News that he thought there should be a special campaign to make students more aware that their whole future depends on how good their examination results are, especially those who are taking their finals.

Many students surveyed by Arab News took a pragmatic approach by saying the World Cup will not prove to be such an obstacle to their examination success because Saudi Arabia will only play three games — implying that the team will be knocked out of the competition in the first round.

Saeed Al Zahrani, a student in a secondary school, said that he has been engaging in some serious time management.

“As two of Saudi Arabia’s matches will start at 2.30 p.m. and the other at 12 noon, I can watch them because my exams on those days finish just when the games kick off. I’ll miss around 10 minutes of each match, but that’s no big deal — as long as I’m in front of the screen when the game ends,” he added.

A physics teacher at a secondary school pointed out that a circular about the soccer competition from the Ministry of Education “goes against the higher principles of the education system.”

The official memo states that all teachers and educationalists should try to nurture the patriotic fervor of their students by making them aware of the fact that the success of the national team in the World Cup is of great cultural importance.

“I think we are in a dire need of a memo which will encourage us to dampen down this soccer euphoria,” he said.

Parents told Arab News that they are seriously concerned about how the promotional campaign for the World Cup may negatively impact on their children’s success in the examinations.

“I have decided to remove the TV from my son’s bedroom for the two weeks in which the World Cup takes place,” one father claimed.

Rashed Al-Massaari, an Arabic teacher, said that in any case many students would not be under the control of their families, because they will be packed into cafes to watch the matches. The reason? Their families cannot afford the high cost of satellite subscription.

“As a result, the students will be spending time in these cafes instead of doing revision of their lessons,” he said.

The real, unvoiced feeling is that Saudi Arabia might actually win its opening games.

The resulting celebrations would go on into the early hours of the morning, and the rise in expectations would be immeasurable.

The question then would be whether the Kingdom’s youths will actually have enough energy to pick up their pens, let alone concentrate enough to answer the examination questions.