PRIVATE schools in the Kingdom are popping up by the dozen every year. The demand is growing. Many Saudi parents are keen to enrol their children in private schools because of the courses they provide in IT, languages, sports, as well as their reputation for low dropout rates and less on-campus violence.
According to the Ministry of Education, there are 4,648,601 schoolchildren in the Kingdom. Of these, almost 10 percent attend private schools. That may not sound a great deal, but at 447,485 students it’s a significant figure. It is much the same as the number of student in private schools in the UK, and it is considered one of the world’s leading centers of private education. Inevitably, the percentage of private students is less in rural areas and more in the cities. In Riyadh alone, the number of private schools is triple the state ones — 698 private versus 220 state.
Although parents’ choice for private schools varies according to their expectations of what knowledge and skills they wish to provide their children with, they all agree on one thing: Private schools offer many benefits that public schools do not.
Businessman Sulaiman Al-Rashid, a father of five children at a top private school in Riyadh, spends of SR70,000 a year on fees for them. He thinks that the benefit of a private education outweighs the costs. “The quality is better,” he said.
State schools in the Kingdom offer general programs. These include intensive Islamic courses, math, science, English, history and Arabic literature. However, private schools provide a broader education, with classes in foreign languages, IT, art and sports in addition to the standard subjects in the state sector. Moreover, there are often extra-curricular activities that aim to develop pupil’s skills and interests.
Abdullah’s children are educated in English but they also study French as part of the school’s curriculum. He sees the benefits of their private education when traveling abroad with them. “My boys and girls depend on themselves, communicating easily with others and making many friends,” he said.
Another reason for sending his children to a private school was because it offered good physical activities and was equipped with sports facilities — swimming pool, tennis court, soccer field and a gymnasium. Sana’a Omran, whose teenage son is at one of the 430 private intermediate schools in Riyadh, appreciates the moral climate in private schools. “Students have more cultural diversity than state schools which reflect only the Saudi community,” she said. This, in her opinion, helps expand knowledge and creates tolerance among students.
She also likes what she sees as the safe environment for students. “Private schools generally have a low incidence of violence compared to state ones because the students are chosen through a selection process. They have to apply and be accepted first,’ she said. Another plus for Sana’a, who pays SR 8,000 a year for her son’s education, is that most private schools have smaller classroom sizes than state schools. It means her son receives much more individual attention from teachers.
There are some 3,000 private schools across the Kingdom. They vary widely on a number of levels, not least fees. According to a business report in Arab News’ sister paper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat last year, the number of students in a Saudi private school averaged at 200 with each school earning around SR2.4 million a year. Tuition fees for private primary schools ranged from SR6,000 to SR9,000 a year. For intermediate schools, fees were from SR9,000 to SR12,000 and high schools, between SR12,000 and SR15,000 a year.
Private schools require fees because they do not receive government funding. Nonetheless, many parents are now struggling after schools recently raised their charges between 10 percent and 25 percent. This has been put down to the global economic situation although it is a mystery why that should be so. Teachers’ salaries, the biggest expense for schools, have not risen proportionately, if at all.
Wedad Abdulrahman finds her two children’s school fees a struggle. “I feel the rise is too high for a medium-level private school,” she said. She used to pay SR7,000 a year for each, but now she pays SR 9,000. It has made her think seriously about moving her son and daughter, who are at a primary school, into the state system.
She is convinced that some private schools manipulate prices. “Some raise the tuition cost during the middle of the semester because they know that we won’t withdraw our kids at that point,” she said. She feels that Ministry of Education should set a maximum level for tuition fees at private schools. But the increases are justified by Essam Menawi, vice president of a leading Riyadh school. “Schools are expected to pay good prices for facilities and teachers as well as bringing in innovative methods of teaching. This is why it costs so much,” he said. Operating expenses at private schools have increased, he said, as opposed to expected revenues. This was due to the rise in building rentals, teaching materials and the cost of food and transportation. “These factors have forced private schools owners to increase fees,” he explained.
Despite the advantages there are parents who prefer state education for their children. Salman Alotaibi sent all his seven children to a state school. For him the benefits lay in its teachers — he appreciated them being “appointed by a governmental committee” — and their methods of teaching with its emphasis on core subjects. In addition, he thinks that students in state schools reflect the wider community. For him, more pupils in a classroom is a good thing not a bad one. More students means that “children will more likely be exposed to people from different socio-economic classes, which can broaden the educational experience,” he said.
It is an interesting idea.
