SIX-YEAR-OLD Malik was not up to the standards of a private school headmistress. She refused to admit him to kindergarten. His only fault was his autism. His parents managed to put him into one of the Kingdom’s international schools. After one year, Malik’s mother said he came back from school everyday not only cheerful but having learned something.
The story of Malik, which appeared in Arab News, is not unique. Many Saudi parents would opt for an international school if they could. It is widely agreed that they offer better quality of education, wider perspective of knowledge and a variety of languages at an early age.
“I wanted to widen my son’s options,” said Maha Ashaikh, the mother of 13-year-old Majid. He studies at the Ecole Française de Djeddah. the French school in Jeddah. “I can clearly see that he is disciplined and ahead of other children of his age who are at local schools.” Majid is currently studying Latin and next year he will be learning Spanish. The school teaches him music, arts, sports and European history and geography. These subjects are not available in local schools.
But for Ashaikh to enroll her son in the French school, she had to have a permit from the Ministry of Education — and renew it every year. The ministry does not normally allow Saudis to enter international schools. Parents have to obtain permission. Not everyone is lucky enough to be granted a permit.
“If I choose to put my son in a foreign school, it’s up to me. You can’t force me to enroll him in a dysfunctional educational system,” Ashaikh objected.
But why do Saudis prefer international schools to local ones – other than the diversified curriculum and the use of many languages?
Parents say that teachers at local schools lack the tools that appeal to students. In addition they point to the fact that unqualified and untrained teachers flocked to schools when the call for Saudization started some ten years ago.
“They teach without prior training or interest in the profession,” said Suleiman Al-Ahmadi, the father of 16-year-old Sawsan. His wanted to put his daughter in an international school. What stopped him was the fear that she would be alienated from the Saudi society. But he is still not happy. “What kind of choice is this?” he asked. “Either enroll your kids in a local school that isolates them from the world or have them study in an international one that alienates them from their country!”
Tariq Habib, a 45-year-old academic, is another parent who is worried about the quality of education given to students in local schools. Having lived much of his life aboard, he had taught his son French prior to enrolling him in kindergarten. When it was time for Yusuf to enter his first grade, Habib decided to put him in a private school.
Yusuf had a case of concentration difficulty that required medical intervention. None of his teachers at the private school noticed his condition. “His private French tutor noticed his lack of concentration only after two classes,” said Habib. “I was truly disappointed.”
Dealing with some of his son’s teachers, Habib was surprised at how closed-minded and conservative some of them were. In his opinion, local schools are just commercial.
“We don’t get the best. We get the cheapest. In Saudi Arabia, we deserve better than that,” he said.
Ahmed and Mohammed are 7-year-old twins. According to their mother, their first years in a state school were disastrous. She criticized the school’s system, the curriculum and the teachers. How did she find out about the low level of education at the school?
“One day I said to my kids let’s play school. I was horrified by the things they shared with me,” she said.
Ahmed and Mohammed’s mother cannot communicate with their tutors because women are not allowed in an all-boys’ school. When she tried contacting a teacher by telephone, he told her that teachers could not cater to each and every child in the classroom. “They’re just too many,” he said.
Because she could not afford to put them in a private school she hired a private tutor to teach them at home. “Unfortunately, teachers at state schools don’t care to invest in the student. For them, it’s just a job,” she said.
Saudis are not alone in voicing their frustrations with the system. Expatriates complain about the inadequacy of local schools. Fatima Mohammed, a 25-year-old Mauritanian but born in Jeddah, looks after her 17-year old brother Ahmed and her 14-year-old sister Khadejah. The brother graduated from one of the “best” private schools in Jeddah. It was expensive and it did not prepare him for his college years abroad. “To avoid repeating the mistake, we transferred my sister from a private school to the Jeddah International School,” said Fatima. “The difference was crystal clear.”
Fatima said that Khadejah became independent, outgoing and developed her own critical thinking. “Instead of relying on me and my mother, she now thinks for herself and does her own projects,” said the older sister.
Educators in international schools explained that the learning experience must not revolve around lessons and exams only.
“We teach students the various skills that they will need in future university life,” said Hannelore Bennett, an English and history teacher at the British International School in Jeddah (BISJ). “We try to give them worldwide education.”
The curriculum throughout BISJ is British in style. In Years 10 and 11 the curriculum leads to the externally assessed examinations of the International General Certificate of Secondary Education, set by the University of Cambridge International Examinations. Post 16 education provision is based on the International Baccalaureate courses with the majority of students taking the full diploma course.
The American International School of Jeddah (AISJ) is based on an American curriculum which, according to Mark English the school’s superintendent, “promotes academic excellence with an international experience. All instruction is in English in addition to a wide variety of electives.”
Courses offered to students include, drama, music, visual arts, community service and sports. AISJ’s academic program includes English, mathematic, social studies, science, world languages, physical education and health. “We also offer advanced placement (AD) for 11 and 12 grades. AD is a college-level course and examination recognized by international universities,” said English.
A bachelor’s degree, two-year experience and teaching certification are the minimum requirements for a teacher to work at AISJ.
If there is one criticism it is that international schools do not offer students an Islamic environment. The director of Al-Ibda intermediate and secondary schools, Yamina Oweini, who worked in international school for 15 years, claims “students lose their religion and Arabic language in foreign schools.” With the curriculum, in her view, limited in state schools, she thinks that private Saudi ones are the best option. “In private schools we’re flexible to expand and add books or subjects that are suitable for the children and approved by the education ministry,” she said.
Despite that, Faiza Ambah, whose son graduated from an international school, is happy to have sent him there. She believes that learning should be an enjoyable experience. “I wanted my son to enjoy the learning process and get useful education,” she said.
Fatin Bundagji, a columnist, wrote an article entitled “What Saudi Parents Want”. She said that the Saudi school system is disconnected from the developments of the rest of the world. She also noted that general education policies are in direct opposition to those of higher education ones. “So long as we ignore these facts, we will never be able to intervene in time to compete in the global race for national prominence and prosperity,” she wrote.
