By Abdullah Al-Ghamdi
JEDDAH — The board of directors of Tatweer Education Company has decided to provide safe and secure transport to women teachers who work at schools in remote areas.
Tatweer Transport Company will provide the service to more than 6,000 teachers in the initial phases, according to a statement issued following the company's board meeting, which was chaired by Education Minister Dr. Ahmed Al-Issa.
The board decided to expedite the service on the directive of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif and Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman to end the suffering of female teachers working in remote areas. Many teachers have lost their lives in road accidents while traveling to and from schools in the past.
Dr. Sami Al-Dubaikhi, CEO of Tatweer Transport Company, said the new service will serve women teachers who work in rugged and remote areas after covering long distances. “We have started preparations to launch the service. The experimental service will start this year for a limited number of teachers and we will expand this service gradually to cover all targeted teachers.”
“We will provide these teachers with safe and comfortable transportation means for a monthly payment of SR500,” he said, adding that the company would provide the service efficiently after collecting information of teachers all over the Kingdom. “We will determine the best routes and use different types of vehicles considering the condition of road,” he explained.
Al-Dubaikhi emphasized his company’s determination to provide the service to all targeted female teachers as quickly as possible after the experimental operation. “We will collect information of teachers by asking them to register on the company’s electronic gateway. We will check whether the applicants fulfill the terms and conditions required to avail of the service,” he said.
The company will soon announce the terms and conditions and the mechanism for registration after setting up the electronic gateway. “We will give priority to teachers who work in remote and rugged areas who are badly in need of the service,” he insisted. “We will also consider as a factor the lack of suitable housing facilities near schools located in remote places,” he added.
Tatweer transport is an affiliate of Tatweer Educational Company, which is fully owned by Public Investment Fund. It aims to improve education by providing safe transport to students and teachers. At present it extends free transport service to more than 1.2 million students belonged to 13,000 schools with the help of 25,000 buses, the CEO said.
