Online Tutoring in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has just announced the biggest education budget in the country’s history: larger even than its military budget for the year.
Demographics:
As per Colliers MENA: “KSA has a very young population profile, continuously fueling demand for K12 education. As of the end of 2018, out of a 33.4 million population, 7.3 million (21.8 percent) were in the school going age group of 3 years (KG1) to year 17 (Grade 12), which is expected to increase to 9.5 million (21 percent) by 2030 with total population size of 44.9 million.”
International Schools
A large, private international school sector provides for the children of expatriates in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest producer of oil. Campuses are concentrated in the capital Riyadh and the coastal cities of Jeddah and Al Khobar.
International schools are divided into two types: those owned by Saudi citizens, which are supervised by the Ministry of Education and must conform to its regulations, such as mandatory segregation by gender, and those owned by foreign nationals, which are not.
At the moment there are 378,000 students (out of 6.1m students) in international schools. GEMS Education and SABIS the major international operators are currently operating in KSA. These schools typically offer different curricula, with the most popular being the British, American and International Baccalaureate (IB).
Major Cities & International schools
Most of the international schools are in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dharan, Tabuk & Al Khobar
Online Tutoring
With the opening of more and more international schools and increased competition, the demand for private tuition is also on the rise. But the booming population and tech-savvy generation create an increased demand for quality tutoring, including an even higher demand for cross-continental online tutoring.
Challenges in selecting online tutors in Saudi Arabia
There is a general feeling especially among the expatriates that perhaps the tutors available locally are not the ideal tutors for their children e.g. parents may feel that to teach IGCSE CIE Mathematics they require an experienced tutor who is well versed in the requirements of IGCSE CIE Mathematics, plus should be able to effectively cover the past examination papers.
With most of the major cities in Saudi Arabia having quality internet & availability of VOIP, the utility of online tutoring is increasingly becoming popular.
Online tutoring provides students in Saudi Arabia to select qualified tutors from nearly any part of the world.
The main challenges of selecting online tutors in Saudi Arabia include:
- Gauging the experience of online tutors relevant to the curriculum i.e. British or American.
- The online tutors own educational background. Ideally tutors teaching IGCSE & A levels should themselves have undertaken the same educational path.
- For female students preference is towards female online tutors (with softer accent and no webcam involved in teaching).
- Online tutors should have access to the same text books as those utilized by the student plus worksheets and past examination papers.
It is now an accepted fact that students who utilize after school assistance secure better grades than students who do not use any such service. With increased competition for admission in universities in United Kingdom and the United States, this factor becomes even more important for students in Saudi Arabia.