Saudi Gazette report

DAMMAM — Some 1.3 million Saudis discontinued their education in 2017 for various reasons, according to a General Authority of Statistics (GaStat) report quoted by Makkah Arabic newspaper on Tuesday.

The survey, which was conducted in 2017, included participants aged 6 to 24 years old, GaStat spokesman Taysir Al-Mufrij told the newspaper.

A total of 2.5 million people — Saudis and non-Saudis — discontinued their education last year. Of these, 279,794 were in Riyadh, 251,913 in the Eastern Province, 267,058 in Makkah, 115,747 in Asir and 89,456 of them were in Jazan.

A total 187,445 Saudi women discontinued their education due to marriage or pregnancy.

Some 20,771 Saudis suspended their education after failing academically, 415,264 discontinued their education to pursue a career, 203,463 dropped out to support their families, 203,951 were not accepted in an educational institute, said Al-Mufrij.

He said 94,729 people wanted to postpone their education, 53,780 dropped out due to illnesses and disabilities, 28,223 had difficulty finding transportation, 121,629 had other reasons to discontinue education.

The reasons for discontinuing education differ between men and women. Some 27.7% men wanted to postpone their education to another time, 19.6% couldn’t continue education due to illnesses and disabilities, 17.4% failed to get admission in an educational institute, 2.3% could not find transportation to attend classes.

Al-Mufrij said that 11.2% women could not continue their education as they had to support their families, 19.4% couldn’t continue education due to illnesses and disabilities, only 2.4% women discontinued their education because they had to pursue a career.