Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Saudi families every year spend about SR21.8 billion on education, local daily Al-Madina said on Monday quoting a report by the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat).

The authority, which conducted a survey on the sector of education, said the Saudis pay about SR7.6 billion as educational fees to private and international schools consisting of SR3 billion in Riyadh, SR2 billion in Makkah, SR1.4 billion in the Eastern Province and SR280 million in Madinah.

The report said the Saudis also annually pay some SR752 million for private lessons to their children at home.

It said SR259 million were spent on private lessons in Riyadh, the same amount in Makkah, SR107 million in the Eastern Province and SR60 million in Madinah.

According to the survey, the Saudis spend about SR2 billion on school transport consisting of SR408 million in Riyadh, SR393 million in Makkah and SR173 in Madinah.

Education in all government schools at all levels for both boys and girls is free of charge.

The government has allotted SR192 billion for education in its recent annual budget. There are more than 500,000 people working in the field of education as teachers, administrators, technicians, guards and others who consume about half of the budget.

The government has also sent more than 170,000 young men and women abroad for higher education on whom it spends about SR15 billion every year.