International school authorities as well as expat teachers and parents expressed their happiness at the extension of the amnesty deadline to Nov. 3 and thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for his humanitarian gesture.
“It is a wonderful gesture,” said Mohammed Shaffe, principal of the International Indian School-Dammam. He commended the Saudi government for allowing qualified dependents of foreign workers to teach at schools.
“We have received a circular from the Ministry of Education, which states that such dependents should have valid resident permit, must be qualified to do the job and their age should not exceed 60,” Shaffe told Arab News.
Such workers should not enter into contracts with other employers and the qualification must match with the subject they teach. They should also qualify in interviews to be conducted by the ministry and get their certificates attested from the Saudi Embassy.
Syed Masood Ahmed, principal of International Indian School-Jeddah, said the royal gesture has brought immense relief to expatriates.
“Many people were unable to correct their status because of the long queues at Jawazat and Labor offices. Now they have got enough time to legalize their stay in the Kingdom,” he told Arab News. “The decision allowing dependents to work was a great gesture as it would help expat wives teach at schools without any fear,” Ahmed said.
S.M. Noushad, group manager of Peevees Group of Schools, said the ongoing correction process would strengthen the Saudi labor market and encourage more foreign professionals to come and work in the Kingdom. He said the extension of amnesty brings relief to not only expats in the Kingdom but also their relatives back home.
He described the correction process as “a forward looking step” by the Saudi government. “Some foreigner workers have left the Kingdom recently thinking that it’s going tough against expats. Now things have become more clear and the clouds have disappeared.”
He said many teachers have expressed their readiness to work in the Kingdom’s schools.
“The extension is a big relief for not only teachers but also parents because we were worried that the raids on schools would affect the education of our children,” said Abdul Shakoor Ali, a parent. “It is like a cool breeze in sizzling summer,” he said.
‘It is like a cool breeze in sizzling summer’
