Saudi Arabia closes over 600 private schools since COVID-19 outbreak: Official

A meeting of Makkah Chamber

A total of 600 private schools and 1,800 kindergartens completely stopped over the last two years due to the COVID-19 outbreak, said Fahd Hamad bin Yamin, Vice Chairman of the Private Education Committee at Makkah Chamber of Commerce in a statement received by Argaam.

Yamin expects these schools and kindergartens to resume operations upon the return of the in-person learning.

The number of private schools dropped to 6,900 from 7,500, while the number of students steeply declined by 500,000, with a Saudization rate of around 65-75% after the pandemic.

Yamin added that traditional learning should resume in line with the implementation of the COVID-19 precautionary measures, to improve the quality of education, which deteriorated over the last two years.

He also requested that the value-added tax imposed on the expats should be eased or lifted to reduce the public schools’ costs, and to further review the private education legislations.

Yamin indicated that a private education authority should be set up to address a number of objectives including investments, marketing, communication, Saudization rates in addition to the education input.