The Ministry of Education has said 39 percent of public schools in the Kingdom have less than 100 students and the ministry is considering the merger of some schools to make them profitable.

There are some schools that have just 10 students and the teachers in these schools have less than six classroom assignments a week, according to a report published by Al-Madina newspaper quoting statistics released by the ministry.

The report said 9,553 public schools out of a total of 24,000 schools have less than 100 students each. Former Minister of Education Prince Khalid Al-Faisal had proposed a plan to cut down the number of schools having very small numbers of students.

According to the plan, schools that were established at least six years ago but still had an enrollment of less than 40 children were to be shut down and their students transferred to other schools within a 5-mile radius. The ministry has said schools with very low enrollment cause an imbalance in the distribution of education resources and huge disparities in teacher-student ratio.

Some schools are overcrowded and have a shortage of teachers while others have more teachers but very few students, it said. The ministry is working to improve the education environment with redistribution of not only teaching and non-teaching staff but also cleaning and canteen workers.

SOURCE : SAUDIGAZETTE