With hardly five more days left for the amnesty period, private schools in the Kingdom are under tremendous pressure.
The Ministry of Education has requested private schools in the Kingdom to submit attested documents of their teachers for approval. The documents must include the original copy of their passport, the original copy of their residence permit, a degree certificate, an Arabic translation of the degree certificate and a copy of the guardian’s residence permit. Applications that were approved by the ministry and sent back to the school are eligible for interview with the Ministry of Education.
The Ministry of Education recently arranged for interviews for graduate teachers and only those who qualify will be granted permission to work at private schools. Tanvir Tariq, principal of Hala International School in Jeddah, said that the school has taken steps to legalize all its workers and is abiding by the ministry’s rules.
However, administrators of some private schools that employ high school graduates have asked them to stay back at home for a few weeks after the amnesty deadline till the situation calms and the chaos is over.
“We give first preference to the ministry’s regulations upon hiring our staff,” said Kadhiresan, vice principal at New Al-Wurood International School, Boys Section.
“Therefore, all our teachers are under the sponsorship of the school and do not have to fear the ministry’s punishment after the deadline. We did have one or two statues that needed to be corrected but that has been taken care of already.”
Kadhiresan expressed his desire for schools to be given more time to settle.
“Since some schools are still facing issues due to teachers who have left because they have been unable to transfer their sponsorship, I think a little more time should be given till schools are able to find other eligible educators to replace them.”
“All our staff members have filled out applications and we have sent them to the ministry for approval,” says Mohamed Ilyas, chairman of the Board of Management of Sri Lankan International School in Jeddah. “Since most of our teachers are locally hired ones, we have had a lot to take care of to get them transferred to the school’s sponsorship. Correction of statuses and legalization of their papers are currently under processing with the ministry.”
Ilyas added that majority of their staff are ready to face the qualification test that the Ministry of Education intends to hold, but have not been informed of any interview as such yet.
“We sent a list of the names of the staff members we want to keep, along with the documents the Ministry of Education asked for and then we were given dates for interviews,” said Nariman Sawi, academic supervisor for middle and high school at the American Diploma Section at Al-Hamra School in Jeddah.
“Until now, we have not been given any clear instruction or direction for the transfer of sponsorships, but the ministry has providing information regarding the interview and the qualification test,” said Sawi.
Sawi added that she is unable to ascertain what would happen after the deadline ends.
“We are not sure whether they are going to allow more time for schools to finalize the status of their remaining staff; no one is certain about what’s going to happen.”
“I really hope more time is given because even if most schools have their procedures underway, most have not been able to complete procedures due to the large amount of staff and the complication of procedures,” said Sawi. “Even the official departments were unaware of what to do or what instructions to follow and everyone was puzzled until very recently when we received the approved instructions.”
Private schools tense as teacher interviews start
