ABHA, 27 February 2008 — Fatma Azb, who was fired recently as director of a women’s training center and international scholarship program in Abha, has been employed in another leadership position in the Education Ministry. She is now director of the Unit for Assessment and Educational Quality in the Asir Region.
Azb was removed from her previous position after being found guilty of highhandedness, obstructing the work of 11 colleagues and mismanaging funds.
The Department of Girls’ Education in the region appointed her, however, to take up the new post after she worked at a secondary school in Abha for one day. Fatma Lahek, assistant director of education, was sitting with her on that day.
According to one source in the department, Azb had kept the files of all employees who worked with her inside the department locked away. Aysha Al-Qahtani, who replaced her, had to break open the door in order to retrieve the files.
The source said Azb had influential contacts or wasta with department officials. He added that these enabled her to circumvent regulations. It said Azb, who specialized in home science, would not have forgotten the basics of teaching.
“She runs a canteen in the No. 3 building of the women’s education offices and supplies some food that she prepares at home. This is against the law,” the source said.
The source also accused Education Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Obaid of failure to implement quality standards to improve education in the country. “All decisions to improve quality remain on paper,” the source added.
In a related development, a government agency has launched an investigation into the allegation that the woman director of nurseries in the region swindled SR130,000 from the organization’s budget over the last two years.
The director formerly asked the heads of nurseries in the region to sign vouchers to prove that they had received SR1,000 each after every semester.
The scandal became public when one colleague refused to sign the paper. According to the law, the director must be fired from her position.
