DAMMAM, 6 July — Education Minister Dr. Muhammad Al-Rasheed has ordered three international expatriate schools closed — one in Riyadh and two in Jeddah — for violating rules and instructions. The three schools have been asked to pay a fine of SR50,000 each.
Informed sources told Arab News that the Riyadh school was shut down for organizing a mixed ceremony of boys and girls at a public rest house on May 8. The ministry described the function as immodest. "It violated the regulations of school functions and the articles of school license," the ministry said.
Al-Rasheed’s tough action shows that the ministry would deal firmly with expatriate schools if found breaching its rules and regulations. The sources told Arab News that the action was taken when the schools ignored warnings.
The minister has set up a committee to oversee closure procedures.
The sources said that one school in Jeddah was closed for halting studies in the middle of the last academic year. The school’s owner stopped classes telling parents that he was in the process of appointing new teaching staff. The ministry said the owner’s decision was harmful to students and obstructed the school’s regular activities.
The ministry also pointed out that the school’s owner had been involved in previous violations and was fined SR50,000 last year.
The ministry took action against the second school in Jeddah for opening a new department to teach American syllabus last academic year without a license. The school was also accused of issuing two different certificates to a girl student with the same date, one showing the student has passed from Class III to IV and the other showing she passed from Class I to Class II.
The ministry claimed that the closure of the three schools would not affect their students as the educational departments in Riyadh and Jeddah would take necessary steps to enroll them in other international schools.
"The ministry’s action during the summer vacation proves that it would not affect students. It provides enough time for students to get admission in other schools," sources told Arab News.
