The problem is more acute in the case of newly appointed teachers. Even though they are prepared to live in remote areas far away from their native place, they find it very difficult to get suitable housing in the neighborhood of their schools.

New teachers often don’t bother even to commute some distance each day if they get housing units at reasonable rents. However, in most cases they become victims of greedy landlords who charge exorbitantly, taking advantage of their circumstances. This forces many new teachers to abandon their jobs even without waiting to complete the appointment procedures, according to a report in Al-Riyadh Arabic daily.

According to Mohsen Al-Awfi, a teacher posted to a school in a remote area, most teachers are prepared to pay rent at least double their housing allowance, as they prefer to stay at homes appropriate to their status in society. He urged authorities to take decisive steps to solve their housing problems.

Ahmad Al-Tayar, who is also a teacher, drew attention to another serious problem. “I found it very difficult to rent a house for bachelors, even in the capital city. Most landlords prefer families as tenants. There are very few residential apartments for bachelors in Riyadh, with a higher rent compared to rent for families,” he said, adding that this forced him and his colleagues to rent an old house with poor facilities.

On his part, Hadi Al-Nufaie recounted the hazardous commute he and colleagues make between their school and their place of residence daily. “In the beginning, we tried our best to find a suitable house, but to no avail. This forced us to resort to a hazardous and tiresome journey crossing hundreds of kilometers every day,” he said while pointing out that this journey even negatively affected their performance as teachers.

Al-Nufaie urged the authorities to address the housing problem of teachers seriously by working out clear plans to make available suitable housing units near their schools. “The authorities should either build suitable residential complexes in the neighborhoods of their schools or arrange transportation facilities for the teachers,” he said.

Badriyyah Abdullah, a female teacher, said that especially newly appointed women working at schools in remote areas were facing serious housing problems. “I was provided with a single housing facility with the exclusion of my husband and children. This forced me to rent a residential flat for my family, for which I had to pay two months rent in advance.”

Badriyyah added, “Apart from the two months rent and my children’s school fees, I had to spend about SR15,000 to furnish the apartment.”

Amal Ibrahim, another female teacher, noted that more than 70 female teachers had approached the department for the affairs of women teachers to solve their problem with regard to presenting evidence that they were living in the same region where the school is located.

At least 40 percent of the Kingdom’s schools are remote locations outside cities. The Ministry of Education appoints thousands of teachers to fill vacancies at government-run schools in those areas every year.

The ministry officials say they stipulate teachers should live near their schools, but female teachers find it difficult to move. They need permission from a male guardian to live alone and have to find a landlord willing to rent out an apartment to single women. Many, nevertheless, accept the positions and suffer long commutes, because job opportunities for women are mainly limited to teaching and health care.