DAMMAM, 4 March 2003 — The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries need to recruit an extra 612,000 teachers within the next two years, a recent study has revealed.
Of these, 27.6 percent would be required to work in middle schools and 23.4 percent in high schools, Al-Watan newspaper reported.
The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
The study urged the education authorities and teacher training colleges to gear up to meet the requirement.
Conducted by Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Sayegh of King Saud University and Dr. Mustafa Motwali of Prince Naif Security Academy, the study pointed out that 50 percent of the teachers — both male and female — hold bachelor degrees.
The study also showed that the average shortfall for native teachers in the Gulf countries was 45 percent.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has the highest percentage of non-native teachers — 47.1 percent — and Bahrain the lowest with 10.8 percent.
Middle schools in the Gulf are 30.5 percent short of teachers, and elementary schools 17.6 percent, the study also pointed out.
