THIS week it was announced that plans have been approved “to create 204,056 new jobs in education.” New jobs, along with new schools, new colleges, new universities are indeed planned for the Kingdom — specifically 1,500 extra primary and secondary schools this year. That is in addition to the 3,240 currently in the pipeline and the 2,000 existing schools under renovation. In this case, however, the very precise announcement is not about extra teachers. It is about giving existing teachers in the state sector better pay and conditions. Jobs are to be re-evaluated on the basis of qualifications.
That is important. There is a direct link between pay, status and conditions on the one hand and enthusiasm for the job on the other. Poorly motivated teachers can only mean badly taught students. Giving teachers the rewards and the status they deserve is, therefore, crucial to the success of the government’s dream of a high-skilled society.
Saudi Arabia’s total commitment to education is evident in this year’s budget. At SR120 billion, not only is the allocation for education and training the highest ever, it accounts for more than quarter of the entire budget. But the drive for education cannot be just about quantity. It has to be about quality as well. It is not only teaching posts that need to be re-evaluated, teachers need to be as well. The sad fact is that there are some who are not up to the job.
The quality of education in the state sector is an issue that many Saudi parents frequently gripe about. Many, if they could afford it, would send their children to private schools; they cannot. It is appalling that some feel they have to resort to extra tuition for their children, because they are not getting it at school. There are, of course, good teachers out there, but there are some dreadful ones as well. Horror stories of bullying, of teachers verbally and physically abusing students, students attacking teachers surface all the time. It is not good enough. The truth is that there are some teachers who should not be allowed near a school. The authorities are far from unaware of the towering importance of quality in the drive for education. The six-year, SR9-billion King Abdullah Project for Education Development is very much about quality of teaching. It aims at improving teacher training and providing more facilities in the classrooms. More, better-trained teachers are vital — teachers who can also genuinely inspire their students to learn, who can stimulate a desire for knowledge, who can implant a work ethic. Without them, the Kingdom’s hopes for high-skilled work force will be stillborn. They are its foundation stone.
Rewarding teachers with better pay and conditions on the basis of their qualifications will help motivate them. But what about those with the qualifications but who are nonetheless unsuited to teaching? It is not only jobs that need to be re-evaluated, it is teachers as well. The authorities need to find out who are the good teachers and who are the bad ones; who needs retraining; who needs to be sacked. That is as much part of the drive for educational excellence as anything else.
