Almadina newspaper

I have said this before and I will say it again: The Saudization of jobs is something we want and support as it will help every citizen earn a living. Change has to be initiated from top to bottom and this means that the Ministry of Labor must approach all institutions and companies as well as colleges and universities that are unfortunately full of contactors who were hired through dubious means. The ministry should question the people who allowed such contractors into our country and gave them bloated contracts that were full of discrepancies.

The struggle of our graduates to find a suitable job that matches their qualifications is no secret. Unqualified contractors get lucrative jobs at the expense of our unemployed sons and daughters who study and work hard to get certifications and higher degrees, starting from a bachelor’s degree up to a doctorate.

The problem with the Ministry of Labor is its irrational decisions that are forcing us to Saudize jobs that in my point of view career education programs have failed to Saudize for a long time. It is unrealistic to expect something that has been broken for decades to be fixed overnight. At the end of the day we must trust our children’s capabilities to handle and learn all types of jobs under one condition: We prepare them well for any tasks that they are given.

Recently, I watched my colleague Minerah Almishkhas and Dr. Sami Zaydan, a member of the Shoura Council, on the “Ya Hala” TV show with Mefrah Alshaqaiqy. The three were discussing the Saudization of university jobs and I was hoping that the Ministry of Labor’s spokesperson was there to voice his opinions in the debate but he was nowhere to be seen. Things can be different if the ministry addresses the real concerns of Saudis, listens to our voices and reads what writers have to say.