Lawyer and legal adviser Abdulaziz Al-Zamil said that teachers can seek court intervention to oppose the decision that they should start working two weeks ahead of the students. He said that the decision is incompatible with the provisions of Article III of the list of holidays.
“The list of holidays provided for (the summer vacation for workers in the field of teaching and supervisors as a regular leave stipulated in Article I),” Al-Zamil told Al Eqtisadiah newspaper.
He pointed out that the subject had been previously studied by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Civil Service, under the recorded letter of the court.
The study concluded that teachers link their work fully or partially with the academic year, because the nature of their work does not require their presence during the holiday.
He explained that the designating of teachers to work before the start of the academic year falls within mandating them during the leave.
“The legislator gave protection to the teacher as a public employee, against any abuses of their rights. He provided him with incentives, without any prejudice to his rights, as he is the most important element in the education system,” he added.
Dr. Rashed Al Harthy, psychology professor at the University of Taif, said that the Ministry of Education violated the regulations, noting that those decisions will have adverse psychological effects on teachers, such as frustration and inconvenience, “This will reflect inevitably on the quality of their work,” he added.
Dr. Al-Harthy stressed that teachers urgently need their rest, so that they can achieve the productivity that is required from them, pointing out that such new decisions need to be revisited by officials.
The decision of the Ministry of Education came at a time when it declared the celebration of the International Day for the teacher on October 5 last year, and to engage teachers with the decision-making process related to education, based on the mutual recommendations of UNESCO and the ILO concerning the status of teachers.
The ministry’s decision angered teachers working in the field of education, after Dr. Khalid Sabti, deputy minister of Education, adopted last week a decision to unify teachers leaves in all grades of education at public schools.
