Why Saudi parents prefer international schools over government schools for their children
Jeddah: Fadia Jiffry An increasing number of Saudis are admitting their children to international schools. Arab News asked parents why they made this decision.
English is one of the most-used languages in the world and is so vitally important. It is the band-aid to the troubled, who find it hard to communicate with someone from another part of the world. It is the stairway to international business and it is also the answer to why most Saudis prefer educating their children at international schools rather than at local schools.
The curricula that government schools follow here in the Kingdom are way behind compared to those of international schools. An additional disadvantage is that the medium of instruction at these state-owned schools is Arabic only.
“Students benefit more when they are taught at international schools. For instance, they can learn both English and Arabic whereas at local schools, students are taught only the basic alphabet in English and the rest continues in Arabic. I also think the curriculum and way of teaching is much more advanced at international schools which is a benefit to every student in today’s world,” said Afnan Hamza, a Saudi mother who chose to educate her child at an international school in the Kingdom.
When seeking to travel to another country, be it for pleasure or higher studies, one needs to possess the education requirements at an international level.
Saudi parents are aware of the demands to educate their children at an international level in today’s world. The King Abdullah Foreign Scholarships program, inaugurated by the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques, gives Saudi parents another reason to choose the education system followed by international schools.
The program gives Saudi students an opportunity to study at the best universities in various countries around the world to continue their education at a higher level. The program is mainly concerned with the rehabilitation of the Saudi youth to play their role in the development of both the public and private sector.
Classes at international schools, apart from being taught in English, follow the British or American syllabus and are internationally recognized. Despite the tutoring being free for Saudi students at local schools in the Kingdom, Saudi parents are willing to pay a fee for their children’s education at international schools, only to meet the requirements of today’s world. Some 90 percent of pupils at international schools are Saudis, even though these institutions were principally set up to educate the children of the expatriates residing in the Kingdom.
The debate arises whether parents still feel the need to educate their children solely in their native language. Some suggest that government schools should consider adopting the same policy as international schools by introducing the English language along with the present Arabic.
Parents who are against giving their children international education argue that being taught a foreign syllabus can destroy the pure culture of the youth in Saudi Arabia. They also criticize the little knowledge an increasing number of Saudi youth have of the Arabic language, while that is still their mother tongue.
A few parents also fear that these adolescents may lack in knowledge of the Qur’an since most international schools don’t teach the subject.
“A class in an international school holds up to thirty five students while in a local school only around twenty students are accommodated in a class,” comments Saudi parent Fahad Al-gabir, who disagrees on educating his children at an international school. When a child needs more attention at school, parents might opt for local schools because of this.