More than 55 days since the commencement of the new academic year, a number of schools throughout Riyadh and Jeddah are yet to receive school books and other necessary study materials for their students, a matter that has inconvenienced both students and teachers alike.

This year, the Ministry of Education printed copies of this year’s curriculum based on the number of students enrolled in the “Noor Program,” resulting in an unusually large deficit in available educational materials.

As a temporary solution, teachers and parents have resorted to photocopying school curriculums and textbooks for students until the original academic materials arrive.

According to sources, a regulatory body objected to the Ministry of Education’s printing of ample copies of the curriculum for public schools during the previous academic year, stating that the amount printed should be restricted to what is expressly required by each school.

The ministry subsequently referred to the number of students enrolled in the “Noor Program” in order to determine printing quotas for the current academic year, as this program provides the ministry with detailed information regarding the number of students, teachers and schools each year. However, the information collected through this program to determine printing quickly became inaccurate due to the opening of new schools in the Kingdom, in combination with a large influx of students arriving from Syria to study in the Kingdom this year.

The Ministry of Education is yet to release an official comment regarding this issue, largely due to the continued absence of an official ministry spokesperson. The General Supervisor of Educational Media for the Ministry Dr. Abdulatif Al Ourfi has not responded to requests for comment on the matter.

The shortage in school resources is becoming increasingly worrying for parents and students as mid-semester exams rapidly approach. Ahmed Saleh who lives with his children in the district of Mansoura. Here, multiple schools remain in wait for textbooks, meaning teachers have been required to instruct their classes without full teaching materials. Like many others, Saleh is working to determine the most appropriate ways to assist his son in studying mathematics, science and English for his upcoming exams. Similarly, the lack of textbooks has heavily impacted upon his daughter’s education, who is in first grade and, due to the textbook delay, struggling to begin studying English without any materials to practice with.

Abdu Abdullah Froui, another concerned parent, said: “My son goes to school with an empty schoolbag and returns home with a bag full of photocopied papers to study with.”

In other cases, some parents have had to rely on second hand books to navigate the beginning of the school year. In one such case, Majed Al-Haji has resorted to borrowing books from the children of his relatives in order to photocopy them for his own son.

“After my son informed me that he was yet to receive his books, I visited the headmaster of the school who told me that no specific time frame has been announced to confirm when the books are expected to arrive,” he said.