Saudi Gazette report

 

DAMMAM —  About 2.5 million expatriates are either illiterate or have little or no education at all, Makkah Arabic daily reported on Wednesday.



According to statistics by the Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI), as many as 1.2 million expatriates representing 11.4 percent of the total number of non-Saudis living in the Kingdom have no educational qualifications.



The CDSI said about 25 percent of the expatriates are either holders of elementary school certificates, can barely read or write or are completely illiterate.



The remaining 75 percent have intermediate education or above. The department estimated the number of expatriates in the Kingdom to be 10.7 million including the people permanently living in the country such as the Burmese and Bidoun (residents without identities).



Economic experts said they were worried that a number of uneducated expatriates were working in retail shops or running tasattur (cover-up) businesses in the name of Saudis who usually charge certain fees.



Nasseh Al-Baqami, a professor of economics at the Diplomatic Studies Center in Riyadh, said a large number of uneducated expatriates are involved in illegal tasattur business or are involved in criminal activities such as drug trafficking and money laundering.



Ali Al-Tawati, an economic researcher, said the unqualified and uneducated expatriates who are working in the retail sector are not only making huge fortunes but are depriving Saudi citizens of employment. “We will not mind expatriates doing manual work such as cleaning or packaging but we are against them doing jobs that need high qualifications and substantial experience,” he said.



Fahd Al-Anzi, deputy chairman of the Shoura Council’s economic committee, said unqualified and uneducated expatriates are responsible for bad products, traffic accidents and numerous faults in the equipment they are operating.



He blamed the private sector for employing unskilled expatriates just because they are cheap hands.