JEDDAH, 19 March 2005 — Many teachers at private schools are getting lessons in abuse as administrators are scheduling some for nonstop 18-hour days, withholding other teachers’ earnings and ignoring Ministry of Education salary minimums.
Some private schools withhold salaries as a matter of course, reasoning that the schools in effect require a “deposit” of the teachers’ first month’s wages as an assurance that the teachers will remain in their positions.
“When I started working in one of the private schools as an English teacher with a salary of SR1,700, they told me that I would not receive my first month’s salary until the year was over,” said Sarah Ahmad. “If I decided to leave the school before the year ends, I would lose the first month’s salary and have to pay an additional fee of SR2,000.”
Ahmad said she believes some administrators may give the new employees difficult working conditions so that they are more likely to leave. Others agree with her.
“When I first started work as an English teacher in this school, they gave me five different grades, fourth and sixth grades in addition to the whole intermediate school classes,” said Hana Ismail. “I used to suffer from bad class scheduling during the week. For example, my schedule on Wednesdays is really terrible. I used to teach nonstop from 7:30 a.m. until 1:40 a.m.”
For other teachers, it can have more serious consequences. “One of my friends had really passed out because of the stress she was undergoing,” Ismail said. “She used to cry from the pressure.”
Some teachers complain of threats that their earnings will be withheld for a variety of reasons.
“At the end of the semester, the school’s headmistress asked us to write revision question sheets and distribute them to students,” said Mariam Yousif, a teacher at a private school in Jeddah. “We were supposed to finish the work in one week — even if we teach more than one grade. If a teacher didn’t finish the work in the assigned period, she would be punished by not taking her salary for this month.”
Teachers who don’t have heavy class loads can find themselves wearing a variety of hats — if they want to be employed. “They assigned me to be the elementary school controller, including taking the absentees’ names and ringing the bell after each period,” said Salma Omar, a history teacher in one of the private schools. “When I told them I couldn’t handle all that, they had their ways to make sure that my salary won’t be given until I died a thousand deaths to get it. So, they made me a teacher, receptionist and a coach.”
Some private schools contend the Ministry of Education’s decision to set SR2,500 as a minimum rate for salaries is too costly, so they’re turning to high school graduates to do the work instead of recruiting recent college grads.
The danger is that in the process, the quality of education may suffer. Some schools are complying with ministry salary regulations and raising tuition fees to cover the additional costs.
“After the rule of the Ministry of Education was applied, the school fees were raised from SR16,000 to SR17,000 in one year to cover up the loss,” said Ibrahim Abdullah, a father of two secondary school students in a private school. “This policy can be either unfair to teachers regarding their salaries or to us as fathers in paying school fees.”
Regrettably, the problem with abuses of teachers is that some talented young educators tend to think that there are better careers to be had in other fields at a time when the country needs its best and brightest at the front of the classrooms.
“I heard a lot about teacher abuse and maltreatment in private schools; however, I didn’t think that it would be that bad,” said Hanan Al-Harbi, a teacher who got out after seven months in private schools. “We, as teachers, need our contracts to be seen by responsible people at the Ministry of Education to guarantee that they are following the rules regarding the salaries, and that we are given our rights.”
