Saudi official says 100,000 students have withdrawn from private schools

Saudi Arabia’s private education has been impacted significantly by COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the beginning of the current academic year, said Abdul Rahman Al-Haqbani, president of the Private Education Committee at Riyadh Chamber.

During the workshop organized by the committee today, Oct. 13, Al-Haqbani said more than 100,000 students have withdrawn from the private schools to enroll at the public schools.

Accordingly, tuition fees were decreased by 70%, which impacted liquidity and led to a failure in fulfilling the operational obligations, he noted.

Al-Haqbani added that several proposals were submitted to ease such impacts on investors, including offering loans worth SAR 5 billion, exemption from fees and scheduling investor loans after six months from the end of the pandemic.