New law requires Indian schools in Saudi Arabia to teach local history and geography

News Network
December 13, 2022

Riyadh, Dec 13: The Saudi Ministry of Education is giving the finishing touches to the bylaw regulating the functioning of private schools in the Kingdom.

According to the bylaw, it is mandatory for private schools that follow a foreign curriculum including Indian curriculum to teach the history and geography of Saudi Arabia. These schools shall teach Saudi students national identity as a subject in the curriculum. Punitive measures, including fines of up to SR500000, will be taken against violators of the regulations.

It is permissible for the private sector and the non-profit sector to provide education services in various phases of general education by applying quality standards, and improving the level of performance and outputs through private schools.

Teachers in private schools are required to obtain a valid professional license issued by the Saudi Education and Training Evaluation Commission.

The regulations state that Saudis or foreign investors can apply for a license to run foreign schools. Saudis and foreign investors can also apply together in partnership between them. Public interest entities can also apply for a license.

According to the new bylaw, the applicant must obtain a commercial registration necessary to practice the activity beforehand and must not have previously faced disciplinary action while serving in a government or private school.

If the applicant is a foreign investor, he or she must have obtained a license from the Ministry of Investment, in addition to proof of previous experience in extending educational services. The investment license must cover educational activities and services.

If the owner of the establishment fails to meet one of the conditions stipulated in the bylaw, they may transfer the licensing right to another person who fulfills these conditions within a period of three months or the end of the school year whichever is earlier, after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Education.

The new bylaw obligates private schools to appoint a principal and qualified educational and administrative staff in accordance with the size of the school and to formulate rules with regard to tuition fees and the mechanism for collecting them.

It is permissible for a private school to request an amendment in the academic calendar in accordance with the rules set by the Ministry of Education. In the event schools receive incentives, subsidies, or financial loans, a balance sheet of revenues and expenditures shall be prepared and deposited in a special account.

The bylaw stipulates that the Ministry of Education approves incentives to enable and encourage the practice of providing educational services by private schools in accordance with the rules for incentives approved by the relevant authorities. These include assistance in cash and kind, technical subsidies, and the use of land, buildings, and state-owned buildings in the education sector as per an investment or usufruct agreement concluded by the ministry or its representative with the beneficiary of the subsidy.

According to the bylaw, infringement of its provisions and rules, offending the religion of Islam, Saudi Arabia, its leaders and public figures, and the breach of intellectual security of society or health and safety requirements are punishable violations.

Punitive measures will be taken against the offenders. There will be one or more penalties, taking into account the situation of students during the academic year. The penalties include a warning and suspension of new admissions until the violation is corrected, which is mandatory within 14 days from the date of serving a warning notice. The school may face a fine not exceeding SR500,000, final closure of school or revocation of its license, and deportation of the school principal or any one of its teachers.

The size of the violation and its recurrence is taken into account when imposing the penalties. The size of the school, the quality of its outputs, and its community participation in difficult conditions are also considered. An appeal to the minister against decisions issued with regard to the penalties is permissible within a month of its issuance.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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At least seven people have been killed when Israeli warplanes bombed an emergency center in southern Lebanon near the border with the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories with air-to-surface missiles, according to Lebanese security sources.

Two sources, speaking on condition of anonymity said early on Wednesday that the strike targeted the Islamic Group’s emergency and relief center in Lebanon’s southern village of Habbariyeh.

Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese group closely linked to the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, said in a statement that “a number” of people had been killed, and called the strike a “heinous crime.”

An official from the group said “seven rescuers” were killed in the aerial assault.

Another Jamaa Islamiya official, also requesting anonymity, said a dozen medical staff were in the emergency center at the time of the strike, adding that bodies were being pulled from the rubble.

Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Mrad said “the Israeli aggression on Habbariyeh adds to the long list of Israeli crimes.”

Israel has been launching air strikes against Lebanon since the beginning of its onslaught against the Gaza Strip in early October.

An Israeli strike knocked down part of a building in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh on February 14, killing seven members of the same family, including a child, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said. A boy initially reported missing was found alive under the rubble.

In a separate Israeli attack, a woman and her two children were killed in the village of as-Sawana in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli regime launched its devastating hostilities in the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the territory’s Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

Israel's raids have resulted in retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The movement has vowed to keep up its retaliatory operations as long as the Tel Aviv regime continues its onslaught on Gaza.

The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed at least 32,414 people, most of them women and children. Another 74,787 individuals have also been wounded.

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News Network
March 15,2024

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Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi would formally kickstart the BJP's Lok Sabha election campaign in Karnataka on Saturday from Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's home turf— Kalaburagi.

He is scheduled to address a mega public meeting at the district headquarters town's N V Ground at 2 pm.

Kharge, who had represented Kalaburagi (Gulbarga Lok Sabha segment) twice in the past, lost to BJP's Umesh Jadhav by a margin of 95,452 votes in the 2019 general elections here— the octogenarian leader's first electoral loss in his political life spanning several decades.

BJP has once again fielded Jadhav from the segment.

Speculations are rife that the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, who has the role of managing the party nationally and coordinating with the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc, may not contest the coming polls and, instead, the Congress is likely to field his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani, a businessman, who also manages educational institutions.

On March 18, Modi will be in Shivamogga, the home district of veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, and is scheduled to address a huge public meeting at 2 pm.

Yediyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra is the sitting MP from Shivamogga and has been re-nominated by the party. Yediyurappa's other son B Y Vijayendra, who represents Shikaripura assembly constituency in the district, is the state BJP President.

BJP has announced candidates for 20 seats in the State, which has a total of 28 constituencies.

After being ousted from power by the Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls, the BJP now is making a strong bid to regain the lost ground in Karnataka.

The BJP won 25 out of total 28 seats in the previous elections, and had ensured the win of a party supported independent candidate in Mandya. The then ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance had come a cropper winning just one seat each.

It is a role reversal of sorts for JD(S), which joined the NDA last September and has forged an electoral alliance with the BJP. The regional party is expected to contest in three seats— Mandya, Hassan and Kolar.

Sharing details of Modi's visit, state BJP General Secretary Sunil Kumar on Wednesday said BJP National President J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath along with other leaders will visit different Lok Sabha constituencies for campaigning in the coming days.

Speaking about the party's poll preparations, he said: "We have divided 28 Lok Sabha constituencies into eight clusters for Lok Sabha elections. Keeping in view the local political and geographical background, programmes and strategies are being worked out in those eight clusters."

Several senior leaders including Shah and Nadda have already visited one of these clusters, Kumar said, adding, "Workers' convention, well-wishers' contacts have been made and election preparations are on in all these eight clusters. In the second phase, large public meetings will be held."

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News Network
March 14,2024

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The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says at least five people, including a staff member, were killed and 22 others wounded after Israeli forces targeted a food distribution centre in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini in a statement on Wednesday said that the strike hit one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the eastern part of Rafah.

“Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine,” Lazzarini said.

“Every day, we share the coordinates of all our facilities across the Gaza Strip with parties to the conflict," he continued.

He said the attack was carried out even though "the Israeli Army received the coordinates including of this facility yesterday."

Lazzarini further urged the protection of the UN, its staff, and its premises and called for an independent investigation.

Israel acknowledged an airstrike on a food aid distribution center in southern Gaza, which it claimed targeted and killed a high-ranking member of Hamas. 

Meanwhile, the statement by the UNRWA head added that since October 7, at least 165 team members have been killed while in the line of duty and more than 400 people sheltering in UN buildings also lost their lives due to Israel's attacks.

More than 150 of the agency’s facilities, including schools and shelters, have been hit in the war, with some destroyed, and UNRWA staff have reportedly been mistreated and humiliated while in Israeli detention centers, according to the UNRWA.

Six aid seekers killed in Israeli attack

Separately, the health ministry in the Gaza Strip said six people were killed in the latest attack on Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City.

The Wafa news agency said some 83 people who were wounded in the attack have been transferred to the al-Shifa Medical Complex in the city.

Over the past weeks, Israeli forces have increased their offensives on the Kuwait Roundabout, an area where large groups gather to wait for aid deliveries.

Israeli forces killed 11 people waiting for food aid at the roundabout on Monday night.

The Israeli military has restricted the delivery of humanitarian supplies to northern Gaza for weeks, and thousands of children are going without sufficient food and medication.

The prevention of aid convoys comes as humanitarian officials have already issued a dire warning, stating that unless a ceasefire is implemented and aid is significantly increased, the toll of malnutrition and disease is expected to rise, leading to an alarming loss of lives.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 31,272 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 73,024 others.

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