Opinion

The role of Labor Ministry in social development

November 15, 2018
The role of Labor Ministry
in social development

Muna Al-Otaibi

Okaz

This is a golden opportunity for families where private tutors can add value to their children and complement the role of schools in providing them with the best education.

IN my opinion, the Ministry of Labor has made significant contributions to social development.

Recently, the ministry approved issuance of special work visas for male and female home tutors in the category of domestic workers. Through these visas, Saudi families can recruit private tutors from abroad. I believe that this is a positive development and a step toward social improvement.

Families for a long time have been suffering because of the absence of private tutoring facilities for their children. This is especially the case for families where parents spend most of their time outside their homes and who are in need of private tutors to follow up their children’s education.

The beauty of this decision is that the ministry set low financial requirements for recruiting tutors. In the past, the recruitment conditions were chaotic and many families became victims of embezzlement.

Private tutors in the past charged high fees of up to SR3,000 a month for a few hours of coaching and most of the time it was difficult to find sufficiently qualified teachers.

To regularize the field of home tutoring, the ministry should set certain procedures. For example, thorough examination of tutors is a must and it is essential to make sure their certificates in teaching are authenticated and they are psychologically fit.

The hours these tutors are going to spend with the children are not going to be a few and limited. Families will have the right and ability to decide and control what these tutors are going to feed the minds of their children. Thus the role of the family in monitoring what the private tutors will teach their children comes into play.

This is a golden opportunity for families where private tutors can add value to their children and complement the role of schools in providing them with the best education.

Families should not neglect the role of home tutors in shaping the intellectual, educational and psychological side of their children and in building their future.

There were many unfortunate incidents involving domestic helps in the past and this could happen though in a different manner in the case of home tutors. This reminds me of the famous movie “Forrest Gump”, where a mother refuses to accept that her son, who was slow in understanding, is sick, when the school decided to transfer him to a school for children with learning difficulties.

The mother took upon herself to be a private tutor for her child. She dealt with him as a special case and refused to deal with him as a sick person with limited abilities. She transformed him into a special man. She was keen on providing him with all the support she could give. She explained to him what was life about in a way he could understand, despite his slow understanding. She did not give up.

The child who walked with iron clutches and arch support was harmed and bullied by fellow students. He used to run away and hide. Thanks to his mother, who took up the role of his private tutor, he became a talented person and an excellent runner who eventually joined the US military. He became famous for saving the lives of four American soldiers in the Vietnam War and received a medal of honor from the US president. He became a source of pride for the nation.


November 15, 2018
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