Now, after all the enthusiasm and sensation surrounding the long-awaited decision to start teaching of English at our public schools, the Ministry of Education almost killed the whole idea.
In an unexpected move, we have been told that the ministry may be considering changing English for 6th Grade elementary from a required subject to an extracurricular activity. The justification given was that there were not enough Saudi English teachers.
For two years now we have been bombarded with statements promising us that the teaching of English would start from the 4th Grade and that the necessary arrangements, including textbooks, have been readied for the big event. We were also told that the ministry was seeking to appoint foreign teachers and that indeed it hired some from Bangladesh. If this was true then the ministry should tell us how would our children learn English if the teachers are coming from that part of the world.
English was indeed introduced with the beginning of the academic year but in most schools, especially those of girls, there were not enough English teachers to start class or no teachers at all. A large number of elementary schools dropped the subject altogether from their curriculum for lack of teachers. How could you introduce a subject if you don’t have the teachers to teach it? This is the question that still awaits an answer.
This happened despite the fact that there are hundreds of unemployed Saudis who graduated from both public and private universities and institutions with degrees and diplomas in English and who could have filled the gap. Bu they were not hired for various reasons. One of the jobseekers said he graduated from King Saudi University in Riyadh majoring in English and when he applied for a teaching job he was directed by the Ministry of Civil Services to take a teaching job with the Ministry of Education. But suddenly, everything stopped without anyone telling him the reason.
The tragedy here is that while thousands of graduates are looking for jobs, the ministry spent months searching for teachers from outside the Kingdom to fill the shortage. One month after the start of the academic year the whole idea was shelved.
A similar situation arose two years ago when computer classes were introduced. Because there were not enough teachers and equipment, the subject was changed to an extracurricular activity. The Ministry of Education should do some planning before venturing into such projects.
