Arab expats seek special schools for communities

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Muhammad Bayyoumi, an Egyptian who has been living in the Kingdom for many years, said the need for Arab community schools has become more pressing. Some schools have been censured for teaching the syllabuses used in other Arab countries.

Speaking to Arab News, Bayyoumi said he took two of his sons to their school that was teaching Egyptian elementary syllabus only to discover that the school had been closed down on charges of violating the Kingdom's educational regulations. 

"My sons are now staying at home after they lost the academic year in the game of cat-and-mouse between the administration of the school and the Saudi educational authorities," he said.

"The Kingdom is still observing this ban though many things have changed since then," he said.

"Many Gulf countries have allowed the opening of Arab community schools similar to those being opened by expatriates from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Europe and Africa," he said.

Meanwhile, a study presented to the Ministry of Education underlined the necessity of opening Arab community schools by the private sector under the direct supervision of the ministry in order to reduce the burden on the government schools and meet the demand of the Arab expatriates for schools teaching the syllabuses of their home countries.

The study, conducted by Saudi education expert Saad Al-Rishood, said the opening of Arab community schools would enable the sons of the Arab expatriates to continue their studies without any difficulty when they return to their respective countries.

The study noted that the growing number of Arab students in government schools has led to the over crowdedness of classrooms and has adversely affected the quality of education.

"The increasing number of Arab students has constituted pressure on the government schools related to acceptance and registration," it said.

The study said there is a lot of confusion at the registration of Arab students and the beginning of the school year and added that most of the Arab parents face difficulties in finding places for the children in government schools and that they are made unhappy when their children are accepted in far away schools.

"Many Gulf countries specifically the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar are now allowing the opening of Arab community schools," the study said.

It warned that to overcome the ban, Arab expatriates started to teach their children the syllabuses of their own countries in irregular classrooms and to hold examinations for them under the title: Examining Our Children Abroad".

The study said in the absence of regular Arab schools, the Arab expatriates tend to enroll their children in international schools. It suggested that the Ministry of Education make new rules and regulations to allow for the opening of Arab schools under its direct supervision benefiting from those of the international schools.

The study also suggested that the ministry has a role in the appointment of teachers for these schools. "We should have schools teaching Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian, Moroccan and other syllabuses in addition to those of the Education Ministry in Islamic subjects, Arabic language and history," the study said.

It called for putting these schools under the direct administrative and educational supervision of the ministry and to be subject to the educational rules of the Kingdom.

By GALAL FAKKAR

© Arab News 2010