Thirty female Saudi teachers who taught English are still jobless after Princess Nora University’s administration allegedly dismissed them unfairly from their jobs.

The teachers provided classes last year to 3,600 female students who enrolled at foundation year level at the university.


All the teachers were employed by the university through an operating company.

Monirah Al-Otaibi, one of the dismissed teachers, said she received an email last August from the operating company expressing the company’s desire to renew her contract to work with the university.

However, a few days after she received another email from the company’s director asking her to choose between working for the Northern Frontier University, Rafha University or Turaif University.

It later emerged Princess Nora University’s administration asked the operating company to replace the teachers with native English speakers.


The teachers tried to meet the dean for foundation year students but they could not due to her busy schedule.

However, her deputy asked them to go to the university’s president Dr. Huda Al-Ameel.

When they did, they were told by the university president’s adviser that they should go to the Ministry of Civil Service and the operating company because they were the ones in charge of their employment affairs.


Tahani Abdul Aziz, another English teacher, said 200 English teachers who taught courses during the foundation year were dismissed last year because the operating company was asked to replace them with native English language speakers.

She also received an email last August from the operating company stating the university wished to renew her contract.

She said she renewed but the operating company did not give her a copy of the contract.

Three days after starting the new academic year, the operating company’s director told the teachers to start looking for other jobs.

She was given the option of working at the university’s branch outside Riyadh or go to the Northern Frontier University.

The operating company told Tahani the university did not want Saudi English teachers this year even if they held Ph.D. degrees.

Tahani believes the operating company will probably replace them with native speakers because it is not going to risk losing a multi-million contract with the university.

Remas Al-Abdullah, another teacher who taught last year at the university, said she received an email from the operating company giving her the option of working in Arar.

She added: “The contract I signed with the company states that the place of work is the university in Riyadh.

“The university says it’s the operating company’s mistake while the operating company is blaming the university.”