The prohibitive fees of private schools are the main reason
why expatriates are seeking a shift. The fact that families usually have more
than one child is another factor.
A case in point is a Jordanian mother who tried without
success to get her two girls enrolled at public schools this year. She even
resorted to begging administration officials at the Jeddah education
department’s women's section to let her eldest daughter in after her
application for both girls was rejected.
She claimed this year things are much more complicated
compared to earlier years. The woman was forced to consider public schools
because of the high costs of private schools.
She claimed that it is easier for boys to get accepted in
public schools compared to girls.
The administrators at the girls section, when contacted
about the expatriates’ plight, said that it was not their decision to make.
“We have received many applications from expatriates, but we
cannot accept them because the public schools are already full. Apart from
regular students, we had to accommodate transfer students who were studying in
schools affected by the Jeddah floods last year,” said one administrator.
The Jordanian mother is not the only case. A large number of
expatriates, including those from Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Ethiopia and Sudan,
were seen clustering at a hall so they could apply for a place.
However, once they arrive at the administrators’ desks,
their application for a seat at a public school is inevitably denied.
An Egyptian mother, who was trying to transfer her daughter
from one public school to another, was told by an administrator: “You should be
glad that you got her a seat at a public school. Just look around at how many
expatriates here are unable to find any place for their children.”
A woman, who said a principal told her that her daughter has
been accepted at a public school, was told by an administrator that the child
could not be enrolled unless written approval is sent from the education
department to the school.
Women along with their children were still continuing to
visit the department until the third week of the school year in the hope that
things might change.
These expatriates are now left with only two options. Either
their children miss out this year, or they are enrolled in private schools,
forcing them to strictly manage their budgets so they can make ends meet.
“I might be able to afford a cheap private school for my
daughter who is in grade four, but I cannot afford education for my other girl
who is now in intermediate level,” said a Syrian mother.
Another woman expressed her fear that if her daughter is not
accepted this year, she might be prevented from pursuing her schooling because
the department of education will not enroll her next year if she is one year
older than her classmates.
“If we had the money we would definitely put our children in
private schools, but these are our circumstances,” said the woman, who has been
in the Kingdom her entire life.
According to the latest decision of the Ministry of
Education, the Kingdom allows 15 percent of students in public schools to be
expatriates.
Priority is given to Saudis and children whose one parent
(generally the mother) is a Saudi, followed by the children of expatriates
working in the public sector and non-Saudis born in the Kingdom. Expatriates
who have recently arrived in the Kingdom are right down the pecking order.
Arab News contacted the education department in Jeddah and
the public relations department in Riyadh for a comment, but no one was
available.
