Khalaf Al-Harbi

Okaz

Minister of Education Azzam Al-Dakhil has responded, via his Twitter account, to a tweet from an account called “The rights of men and women teachers.” In his response, he expressed readiness to meet with the representatives of male and female teachers from various regions at any time to discuss their demands.



This rapid response is, no doubt, a welcome gesture but at the end of the day it will simply remain an expression of goodwill because it is not supported by official recognition of a body that truly represents and defends the interests of teachers.



Who will represent the teachers? This is an important question because the right of representation is currently not governed by any logical rule. Under the current system, a teacher who is more active than his colleagues on social media is chosen to represent the others merely because of his online presence!



I am not against those who are behind the Twitter account the minister replied to. On the contrary, I am totally with them and I have supported teachers throughout my life. I am sure that the teachers who established the account would not have resorted to Twitter to express the demands of their colleagues if they had a body to represent them.



Therefore, the minister is required to support the establishment of an association that will group together all men and women teachers. We have asked previous ministers to create an institution for teachers but they have all, without exception, disregarded this demand.



Instead, these ministers depended on random decisions to solve the problems facing teachers. At the end of the day, both teachers and ministers became wary of each other.



If an association for teachers is created, it will undoubtedly become one of the most important non-governmental organizations in the Kingdom. Teachers represent a large section of society, if not the largest. So, it is really surprising that journalists, lawyers, engineers and other professionals have their respective associations while teachers do not have any organization to represent them despite their large numbers and numerous demands.



As there is no organization to voice their demands, teachers have resorted to the Internet and the media to voice their concerns. This has created tension between them and their ministry on many occasions.



The education minister may achieve occasional successes but his biggest success will be the support of the establishment of a vocational body for teachers. By so doing, the minister will make a significant quantitative addition to society and to the category of people he is responsible for.



All former education ministers have dealt with teachers as regular employees who should carry out orders issued to them without questioning or having a say in these instructions. This is a grave mistake which robs the education process of its true essence. Teachers are different from other employees — the fate of our future generations and that of the entire nation largely depends on the success or failure of teachers in their jobs. This is, of course, in addition to the fact that the ministry should motivate them to excel and innovate.



A teachers’ association will be the organ which will support their demands and express their solidarity with members of other professions. The proposed association will represent their aspirations, promote their skills and organize their demands so that they are not lost in the random decisions that are made.



It is true that as a journalist, I am totally inclined to my profession more than any other vocation. However, I feel frustrated and disappointed whenever the name of the Association of Saudi Journalists is mentioned because I consider the teachers’ association more important than my own.