Speaking to the newspaper, a number of private women teachers said that their salary and other allowances were much less than those of their counterparts in the government sector. Even though some private firms have implemented pay rise in line with the royal decree, none of the private schools have taken any initiative to introduce a minimum wage of SR3,000, they noted while urging the intervention of the concerned authorities to rein in greed on the part of those who run private schools to earn huge profits at the expense of the teachers. There should be serious efforts to improve the living conditions of private women teachers, some of whom draw a monthly salary of SR1,500 or less than that, they pointed out.

Ibtisam Yousuf, a private school teacher, said private women teachers had much strain and hard work but less salary and allowances. “The royal decree for a minimum wage of SR3,000 for government employees has caused much anguish among us, as most of us draw salaries less than SR1,500. There are also some others whose salary is around SR2,000. We tried our best to seek the intervention of the concerned authorities to improve our working conditions. We even approached the Department of Education and the Labor Office with the demand to take steps to increase salaries and allowances, but to no avail,” she said.  

Echoing the same view, another Saudi woman, who works as a director of a private school, noted that private school teachers normally suffer from much strain, unlike their counterparts in the government sector. “Private school teachers are supposed to shoulder much higher responsibilities compared to government school teachers. They have to satisfy the school director, parents, and students alike. The rules and regulations prevailing in most private schools cause much strain and pressure on teachers, even though their pay scale is very low,” she said adding that most school managements have so far not implemented directives from the authorities to increase the wages of their teaching staff. She attributed this mainly to the lack of monitoring by the concerned authorities. “There are some school owners who force women teachers to sign on papers that they draw salaries higher than what they are actually disbursed. Some teachers who refuse to budge on these tactics in the beginning ultimately give in to avoid dismissal from the job,” she pointed out.

According to the school director, there should be an effective mechanism to monitor implementation of the directives issued by the concerned authorities to improve working conditions and allowances for women teachers. “The Labor Office should be tasked to take appropriate decisions with regard to pay rise at regular intervals and make routine inspections to monitor effective implementation of the directives in this respect,” she said.

Saad Al-Mohaizie, former director of a private school, said that it is high time for the Ministry of Labor to put an end to the suffering of private women teachers with low salaries. “This is highly imperative to serve the interests of not only the teachers, but also the owners of schools. An increase in salary and other allowances would put an end to the frequent cases of teachers moving from one school to another seeking an increase in salary and other allowances. They even grab the opportunity to get a small increase in their wages. This puts the owners of schools in an embarrassing situation, as they have to tackle the flight of experienced teachers every now and then,” she said. 

According to Al-Mohaizie, the Ministry of Education has nothing to do with the fixation of salaries of private school teachers. This comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labor. “Hence, there should be coordination between the two ministries in addressing the problems related to private school women teachers in order to improve their working conditions. If they compelled private school managements to set a minimum monthly wage of SR3,000, it would have a great positive impact on the performance and work efficiency of the teachers,” she said.

Al-Mohaizie suggested that the pay hike of private women teachers could be linked with their performance. “If they got an annual increment, it would produce a positive impact on their overall performance. I have not noticed a single instance in which owners of private schools themselves came forward to increase the salaries of their teachers in line with the royal decree. Owners of schools are keen only on amassing revenues and not on achieving academic excellence by improving the working conditions of their staff,” she said while noting that less salary for teachers meant more profit for owners of schools.

Meanwhile, Hotab Al-Anzi, spokesman of the Ministry of Labor, said that the ministry was keen to ensure better working conditions for women teachers.

“Their pay scale should be at par with their hard work and strain. The ministry has taken several steps to highlight this point. As for fixation of a minimum wage for private women teachers, this requires fulfillment of several measures with far reaching ramifications, including fixation of a minimum salary for the entire private sector,” he said.