A study conducted by the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recommends floating these schools on the stock exchange to be able to keep pace with the Kingdom’s economic development.

The study called for more funding through local and international investors in the private education sector and said more citizens are preferring private schools.

The study said private schools in Riyadh represented about 32 percent of the number of all schools in the city and account for 29 percent of all classrooms. It said about 26 percent of all teachers in Riyadh work in private schools.

The research said private schools in Riyadh represented about a third of all public and private schools in the Kingdom. Forty percent of students in Saudi Arabia go to private schools.

The study, which covered 276 private schools at all educational levels in Riyadh, said about 42 percent of these schools are in the northern areas of the city and added that most of them have been operating for 10 to 25 years.

“Most of these private schools have a humble capital of about SR100,000,” it said.

The study called for giving more attention to schools for children with special needs and also ensuring they are supplied with qualified cadres. It also called for providing all private schools with modern facilities including computers.

Only about 0.4 percent of schools have access to the Internet, it noted.

The study also called for using IT and the latest communications means in education and said a clear-cut educational strategy should be made for private and special schools to help upgrade their level. It called for resolving all problems facing private education to make it more attractive to investors.