The parents urged the authorities to intervene and put an end to what they called unjustifiable fee hikes, Al-Madinah newspaper reported Tuesday.
Many teachers in these schools reportedly complained about their wages, saying they did not exceed SR1,800 after deducting medical insurance costs. Royal decrees issued recently by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah set the minimum wage for Saudi teachers at SR3,000 that could rise to SR5,000 as part of special arrangements to end unemployment among citizens.
The teachers said they were forced to sign the contracts with these schools instead of sitting idle at home waiting for government jobs.
Abdul Ilah Hamdan Al-Sayed, father of a student studying at a private school, described the rise in fees as uncalled for and said every year schools justified the increases by falsely claiming that they were employing highly-qualified teachers, building well-equipped labs and establishing new playgrounds.
He urged the local department of education to put an end to the hikes by setting the fees for each school according to its standards and facilities.
A teacher who spoke on condition of anonymity said SR1,800 was too low a salary. Those working in government schools are paid SR7,000 a month in addition to fringe benefits, he added.
Another teacher said he signed a contract with a reputable private school for SR2,000 a month. He said when his colleagues asked for pay rises they were told to quit if they were not satisfied with their salaries.
A third teacher who also spoke on condition of anonymity said there was no option but to accept these low wages because the schools received plenty of applications from Saudi university graduates looking for employment.
A female teacher said women usually waited up to for five years before they found employment. “I was happy at first to work on this low salary, but later I regretted accepting the job,” she said.
Director of the department of education in Yanbu Muhammad Farraj said there was no system to set the fees for private schools but asked their owners to keep their charges affordable. He said the salaries of teachers should be commensurate with the income of the schools they work at.
“We supervise private schools, evaluate them annually and provide them with annual subsidies which range from SR20,000 to SR30,000,” Farraj said.