The problem with some officials in the civil service is that they give statements to the press without carefully weighing their words. Based on the number and nature of these statements, readers may be under the illusion that tomorrow will be full of surprises and that all our problems are about to be solved.
Another problem with these officials is that they fail to take their own statements seriously, considering them as empty rhetoric — unaware that thousands may be counting on the promises. Those who find in them a hope of addressing their concerns will take the statements seriously.
Just look at the following examples from officials at the Ministry of Education. The director of the ministry’s private education department was quoted as saying that his ministry and the Manpower Development Fund have jointly approved a project to encourage Saudi college graduates to work in private schools.
Each teacher would receive a monthly salary of SR3,500 of which the fund would contribute SR2,000 and the school the remainder. Another newspaper quoted the deputy minister of education as saying that the monthly salary would be SR4,000, being equally paid by the fund and the school.
Barely a week passed and the director of private education contradicted his earlier words, issuing another statement saying the whole matter was still under consideration. A month later the same director told another newspaper that the private schools would be obliged to pay a minimum monthly wage to Saudi teachers. This time, no mention was made by the director of the fund’s involvement in the new arrangement.
Then there was a statement by the director general of education in Makkah Region denying any arrangements to impose a unified contract for Saudi teachers in private education. According to him, everything was still under consideration.
At this point, enter the minister of education. The minister told a local daily that a ceiling had been fixed for the salaries of Saudi teachers in private schools and thanked the fund for its efforts in this regard.
The new academic year has already begun and will soon end. A long time may pass without the public seeing any tangible results. It is all talk, just talk. If it were not for these officials and the statements they issue, our papers would probably close down and their staff forced to look for work elsewhere.
19 October 2002
