‘50 percent of teachers not qualified’

The National Center for Assessment in Higher Education (Qiyas) has found that 50 percent of teachers in the Kingdom are not qualified to teach students.
This was revealed by Shoura Council member Khaled Al-Aqeel during a discussion of the Ministry of Education's 2012/2013 annual report on Monday. Other members of the Shoura Council's education affairs and scientific research committee also pointed out several shortcomings in the country's education system.
"The budget of the Education Ministry is more than that of neighboring countries, but learning outputs do not meet the needs of the market," said Al-Aqeel. He said the ministry should focus on boosting the efficiency of teachers, modernizing curricula and finding special staff to assess the performance of educators.
Another Shoura member, Ahmad Al-Hakami, said that 25 percent of teachers, including 35 percent of female teachers, do not have university degrees. He said most teachers with no degrees teach at elementary schools. He urged the ministry to change this situation.
The Shoura members also highlighted other education challenges including problems with the King Abdullah Project for the Development of Public Education (Tatweer) and other development projects.
The committee asked the ministry to find ways to ensure women teachers are employed near their schools to reduce their daily commuting.
Nasser Al-Musa urged the ministry to expand its services for peopel with special needs, and said it should set up a body to monitor and oversee these services.
Fayez Al-Shahri said the Tatweer project has yet to achieve clear results. "Its achievements are not in line with the amount of money spent on it during this past period," he said.
He said the ministry has also not compiled proper statistics on the school dropout rate in the Kingdom. He called on the ministry to offer a special training course for teachers.