JEDDAH, 18 May 2008 — About 20 percent of foreign teachers working in private schools in the Kingdom are likely to lose their jobs this fall as they have failed to pass a basic qualification test conducted by the Education Ministry, Al-Eqtisadiah daily reported yesterday.
“The ministry will send the results of the test to the schools this month to implement the decision,” the paper said, adding that the ministry would punish those schools which do not comply. The punishment includes closure of the school, it added.
Foreign teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and science, who teach at primary and intermediate levels, sat the test. “The ministry had taken the decision to get rid of teachers who fail to pass qualification tests,” one source said.
The move is important for improving the standards of private schools in the Kingdom where more than five million students, including a large number of expatriate children, receive education.
The ministry has made a number of important observations on certain private schools during the test. It found that some teachers were teaching subjects that were not their specialization. “A math teacher teaching science, for example,” the source pointed out.
The ministry found it difficult to apply the test to subjects that the teachers learned during their training period. However, it decided to conduct the test on the basis of a teacher’s specialization and considered their education in other subjects during training as an exception.
The ministry has identified four areas for qualifying a teacher. They should know the Kingdom’s educational policy and regulations and curriculum; methodology of teaching; psychology; and should be able read, write and understand the Arabic language.
The introduction of the qualification test is part of a program aimed at improving the educational standards in the country.
