Saudi vocational teachers to get 50% pay hike

Teachers in Saudi Arabia’s much criticised vocational training sector will get a 50 percent pay hike next month.

Starting on the first day of Ramadan, all teachers at vocational training institutions in the kingdom will get a pay rise of 45 to 50 percent, the governor of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training, Dr Ali bin Nasser bin Ali Al Ghufais, told state news agency WAS.

The Saudi government has pledged to overhaul the country’s education system and has earmarked  $32.6bn, or a quarter of this year’s budget, to the sector.

Vocational training in particular is often cited as the reason employers are failing to meet Saudisation quotas.

The government wants 75 percent of company employees to be Saudi nationals, but only a small number of companies in certain sectors have been able to meet this target.

More than 60 percent of the Kingdom’s population is estimated to be under 18 years old, which will lead to a 112 percent increase in the total workforce over the next five years. At the moment 83 percent of all jobs in the private sector are held by foreigners.

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