Abdullah Al-Ghamdi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

 

RIYADH — The Education Ministry's decision to reduce the working week for women teachers in remote areas to three days will be implemented with the start of the second school semester.



The ministry's spokesman Fahd Al-Harithy said in press statements that as a first step the decision would be applied in education authorities in 18 regions of the Kingdom.



He explained that the mechanism of deciding whether the school is remote or not depends on its distance from the nearest city, the condition of the road leading to it, the number of students and teacher turnover that is determined by the number of transfer requests.



Al-Harithy said the school would be considered remote if the distance to it is 150 km or more on an asphalted road, 100 km on a desert road and 30 km on a road in difficult terrain.



He said the number of girl students should not be less than 25 in an elementary school and 20 in intermediate and secondary schools.



Education Minister Prince Khaled Al-Faisal decided to reduce the number of working days for women teachers in remote areas from five to three in a bid to cut the number of road accidents involving them.



Many women teachers and students lost their lives to road accidents while on their way to and from their schools in remote areas.



Under the decision, the schools will remain open five days a week as women teachers will work in rotation.



They will spend the remaining two days of the week working in the department of education nearest to them.



The spokesman said there would be further steps taken to improve working and transport conditions for women teachers in remote areas.