The Education Ministry has decided against proposals to allow teachers to transfer from one school to another, saying that it is difficult to implement fairly. It has a point. Replacing teachers who want to leave remote areas can be difficult, particularly finding someone teaching the same subject.

But there are ways around this.

In some European countries such as France, for example, the issue of getting teachers to go to state schools in difficult or undesirable areas has been around for a long time. Teachers, like almost everyone else, want to be in the nicer places, the smarter schools, where they are respected and students are responsive.

The answer has been what is in effect a points system. Teachers have to spend a number of years in schools in undesirable places, such as some of the less salubrious suburbs of Paris, before they can move to better ones. Otherwise, there would be almost no teachers in the poorer areas.

There is no reason a similar system could not be devised here so that schools in difficult and remote areas are properly staffed.

Another reason for opposing the proposals to enable teachers’ transfer is, according to the ministry, the lack of suitable accommodation in remote areas. It is looking at building housing within school premises but this will take time, it says, adding that there are security considerations to take into account as well.

Here it is on a less sure footing. As the authorities like to point out, Saudi Arabia spends massively on education. A quarter of the budget goes on it, and it is the biggest single budget item. This year the figure is SR210 billion, a three percent increase on last year’s amount. Part of it will go on 465 new schools, 1,544 existing school expansion projects and the refurbishment of another 1,500 schools.

That is good news but it is teachers who teach, not walls. It is entirely appropriate then that out of the SR 210 billion SR104 billion is to be spent on primary and secondary teachers’ salaries this year and that provisions are being made to recruit a further 4,000 teachers.

But walls have to be found for them too. If housing is required to ensure that there are teachers in remote or difficult areas, then it needs to be done. There is no point upgrading or building new schools if there is nowhere for the teachers to stay. The two have to go together.

As for saying that necessary accommodation is something that will take time to achieve, it should not be the case. It does not take long to build houses and, with such a massive budget, it should not be difficult to find the money.

Over the past six years, the amount allocated to education in the budget has risen substantially. From SR105 billion in 2008 to this year’s SR210 billion. Moreover, compare it to just 9.8 percent (or SR666 million) of the total budget in 1970. Today’s spending is equivalent to 10 percent of GDP, the highest percentage on education in the world. It shows that Saudi Arabia well understands that education is the key to the country’s future.

But teachers are the key to education.

There are an estimated half a million in the country, and they need encouragement, respect and rewards if they are to do the job well. Otherwise, Saudi Arabia will suffer.

Accommodation is part of the issue, as teachers have themselves made clear. It is not just about accommodation in remote areas. That, in fact, is just as small part of a bigger picture. For many teachers, there is a need for a housing allowance so that they can afford to live decently near their place of work.

However, there is more. There are also demands for health insurance, for further training, for more teachers so that workloads are reduced, for better facilities, and an end to unqualified teachers. And there are demands for more pay. At the end of last year, it was claimed that there were 200,000 teachers who were not being paid properly.

The fact that the number of teachers seeking transfer is growing, as the ministry itself admits, has to be a concern. Of course, there can be various reasons for wanting to transfer — to be near the family, be in a better area, a husband being transferred elsewhere — are just some of them. But teachers not being happy is almost certainly one of them.

Ensuring that the Kingdom’s teachers are at ease and productive is as much a goal for the authorities as any number of new schools or equipment.