More than 30% of a total of 300 private schools in the Eastern Province don’t meet the new safety and educational requirements by the Ministry of Education and Civil Defense.

A number of investors who rent out residential villas for their schools said they would leave the business and close down the schools by the end of the year because they failed to fulfill the conditions set by the Ministry.

The Ministry has asked them to provide buildings that are up to standard for the educational environment while civil defense wants them to meet the safety requirements. Up until this incident, it was quite normal for investors to rent residential villas and turn them into schools.

Huzam Al-Harbi, a member of the private education sector in the EP chamber of commerce, said increasing demand and conditions, in addition to limited resources, made it the business to be in. He said he could afford moving his school to a building that met the new requirements.

Al-Harbi has told the parents of students that this semester would be their last.

Adnan Al-Shakhs, a private school owner who has been in the business for two decades, said he doesn’t mind the new requirements and that he has the ability to fulfill them.

“My schools are already in ideal condition,” he said, adding that private education investors now have to raise enrollment fees so they can provide the requirements. He said the most important reason accounting for a raise in fees on behalf of investors is the minimum wage for Saudi teachers.

General Abdullah Khashman, director of civil defense in the EP, warned that he would close down any school that doesn’t implement the safety requirements.

In other news, 260 schools are subject to closing down in Riyadh because they could not afford the increased financial burden resulting from the minimum wage regulation for Saudi teachers according to Abdullah Al-Qasabi, board member of the Riyadh chamber of commerce and head of the private education committee of the chamber.

In a meeting conducted by the committee, the owners of private schools said that they would ask the credit bank to pardon them from their debts for two years until they work out their financial deficit.

Abdurrahman Al-Haqbani, head of the national committee for private education, said there is 550 million in credit due by private schools which they won’t be able to pay because of the minimum wage regulation.

Ghazi Al-Shihri, the director of a small businesses department in the credit bank, said most private school owners had obtained loans to finance their establishments.