The Indian International School in Jeddah.

Many expatriate community schools run under the auspices of their embassies in this country have been exempted from Saudization, according to a report Thursday in local media.

A Labor Ministry source has confirmed this development but said these concessions involve specific criteria for some schools, which includes paying zakat and social insurance.

Many community-run schools have been asking the Saudi authorities through diplomatic channels for some time to exempt them from these conditions because they operate on a non-profit basis.

The report stated that the community international schools of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Germany, Britain, France, China, Malaysia and Greece are exempted from payment of zakat and abiding by Saudization employment quotas.

The report also stated that certain schools, without specifying their category, run by the US, Italy, Spain, Russia, Morocco, Djibouti and Algeria are exempted from mandatory Saudization but required to pay zakat and social insurance.

Bangladesh international schools teaching in both Bangla and English are also exempted from zakat. Turkish international schools have been exempted from paying zakat, social insurance and registering as commercial entities.

The schools have also been granted an option to hire teachers from other foreign countries.

India was not mentioned in the report. Sources said that Indian schools in the Kingdom have been exempted from these criteria for some time.

In other recent concessions, the ministry has allowed the dependents of expatriate employees to work at private schools as teachers without changing their sponsorship, but have to register with the ministry’s Ajeer program.

 
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