Gulf News, Sunday, Feb 21, 2021 | Rajab 9, 1442
Saudisation of education to create 87,000 jobs
Saudi Arabia:
A plan to localise jobs in the Saudi education sector is expected to
provide over 87,000 jobs for citizens, according to a local report.
The number of education jobs done by foreign expatriates in the kingdom has
reached over 87,000 out of a total of 272,000 or about 30 per cent of the
overall jobs in this sector, Saudi news portal Sabq said.
The Education Ministry has recently directed expediting the “Saudisation” of
jobs in the non-governmental education sector, a step allowing Saudi
citizens to do administrative and supervisory jobs in private schools and
replacing foreign teachers with local counterparts.
Family spending on private schooling in Saudi Arabia amounts to SR18 billion
annually, Sabq said.
There are 38,000 public schools and 6,144 private schools in the
kingdom, according to reports cited by Sabq.
Experts believe that setting a minimum wage level for pay in private
schools will make them an attractive work environment for many Saudi
graduates as some of these schools still offer meagre wages and cut from
employees’ salaries in case of holidays, or class discontinuation.
Saudi Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Ahmed Al Rajhi
has recently unveiled a decree to localise jobs at restaurants, cafes
and malls, noting that the ministry will soon decide to Saudise
education and lawyer jobs.