Dropouts said they had no regrets leaving school and they were proud to work and help their poor families. They were happy to be working instead of begging.

Teachers and educationists did not agree to children taking up tiring manual jobs. Their young bodies would not endure such hardships. The existing labor laws in the Kingdom prevent child labor and the teachers said this phenomenon should be stopped. They called on the government to intervene and ensure all children are in school.

“I am the only child of my mother and father whom I am bound to support,” said Rayan Bakhsh, a Saudi child who was selling vegetables and fruits at the vegetable market. He said his work was depriving him of education with the other children of his age, but he felt he had no choice. He had to feed his parents.

“My work starts early in the morning, so I go to bed early. I am satisfied about what I am doing, because I am helping my family. One has to be grateful to his parents and support them as much as he can,” he said.

His friend Fahd said he was the only child of his mother. “My father died. I had to leave school to sustain my mother,” he said. Fahd works in the vegetable market in the mornings. In the afternoons he sells bottled water near the traffic lights.

“I have to carry the heavy boxes of water from the shops to the traffic lights. They are breaking my back but I have no other choice. I am proud of what I am doing,” he said. Fahd’s mother always asks him to sell the largest possible quantity of water. “I cannot carry those, but fortunately I get compensated by the kind customers who pay more than the actual price.”

Osama, another dropout child, said he was working at the vegetable market from early morning until late in the afternoon. “The fruit and vegetable boxes are too heavy for me but I have no other option but to endure and make some money to help my family,” he said.

To get to the market and home again, Osama crosses the Expressway twice every day. “This is very dangerous. I may get hit by a car anytime but I have no other choice,” he said.

Muhammad Hassan, a teacher, said the number of dropouts was increasing every year. “The Ministry of Education has to shoulder its responsibility in this regard. Together with the parents, it should make an effort to end this phenomenon,” he said.

Hanadi Abdul Aziz Makki, a mathematics teacher, agrees with her colleague. “Students at this young age should be in the classrooms. They should not be allowed to go sell vegetables and water,” she said.

Faisal Al-Sharif, a supervisor at the department of education, said the bad influence of the students’ friends and the way some teachers treat their students were behind the increasing rate of school dropout. “Working at this young age is bad for children. But some of them come from poor families and they believe it is their duty to help them.”