Clearly the main barrier to the Saudization of the private sector is the weak English-language skills of the country’s graduates. Even our university English teachers would fail miserably if they applied for jobs in the private sector as English-speaking business negotiators. Only King Fahd University and Aramco put their employees through intensive English courses.
Those who lack English-speaking skills cannot use most computer programs and systems. Indians are often hired because English is their primary language.
Microsoft plans to invest $1.7 billion in India in the next four years, making the country the second-most important center for computer programming and other services that rely on English.
Malaysia is copying the Indian experience because they too have an English-based colonial history. They have been able to attract foreign companies because of their cheap and educated labor force. These days, Malaysia is quickly becoming a global player in the field of electronics.
What we need as a country is to place a high priority on teaching English. I read recently that tourism-development officials are training 15,000 Saudis to learn English.
This is very important when we consider that only 7 percent of the tourism services sector employs Saudis; the target is 80 percent by 2008. We must keep in mind that more foreign companies are going to come to Saudi Arabia and they will only employ workers that speak English. We know the solutions to our problem — the most important thing is to implement them.
