By Muhammad Al-Amoudi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

BISHA — A number of teachers expressed their hope that the newly appointed minister of education would look into their situation and transfer them to schools closer to home.

Many male and female teachers interviewed for this report spent at least 10 years working in schools that are more than 200 kilometers away from their home, with the hope that they will be moved soon to schools in their hometowns.

Abdullah Saeed asked how long he could bear traveling 200 kilometers back and forth to his school in a remote area called Kahlan. He said the place lacked electricity, water and health services.

He said, “I have been teaching in the school for 15 years and I was not able to get a transfer to a school close to my home. We faced injustice when the movement of teachers to new schools are announced each year under the transfer system.”

Hussein Jaluwi, a teacher in Tathleeth in the southwest of the Kingdom, said he travels more than 250 kilometers every day back and forth to his school. “I have been dreaming of teaching in my hometown of Bisha. Every year I expect my name to appear on the transfer list, but sadly Bisha has never been on the list. No one is explaining to us why was this happening,” he added.

Muhammad Al-Shahrani said he had been teaching for more than 10 years in Al-Amway in the Asir region. He was frozen in his position all this time without any hope of moving to a school closer to his home. He said other teachers were able to get transfers to new schools event though they had been in the service only for three years or less.

“We served for a long time and the priority should go to the senior teachers when it comes to the opportunity for transfer. We call on the new minister of education to review our situation and put an end to our suffering,” he said.

Umm Muhammad, who has been teaching for three years in a school in a remote location in Al-Laith governorate, described the pain and suffering she goes through on a daily basis. She leaves her home at around 2:30 a.m. and returns at 5:00 p.m. She crosses more than 600 kilometers every day on Jeddah-Makkah-Laith Road. She said almost every day, she witnessed terrible accidents on the road.

She hoped that the new minister would grant her and other teachers like her emotional stability.

Muhammad Bin Saad said teachers who are working in remote mountain areas should be allowed a transfer to a school closer to home after two years of service.

He said teachers living in villages should be allowed to teach in schools in their own villages, instead of sending them to work in far away places.