“Government employee: Absent ma’am”

“Government employee: Absent ma’am”

The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia is suffering from a major problem of absenteeism, according to a recent report.

December 28, 2009 3:47 by kippreport

Around 11,000 employees working with the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia were absent during the previous financial year, according to a study by the Control and Investigation Board, reports Arab News. Another 7,000 came late to work, according to inspection visits carried out by the board.

Not far behind was the Ministry of Health, where 7,523 employees were absent and 4,600 chose to walk in late, says the report. In the third place came the Ministry of Rural and Municipal Affairs, and the fourth place was occupied by the Ministry of Justice.

According to the study, the inspection tours covered more than 13,000 government departments with 8,88,705 employees, of whom more than 43,000 were absent and 25,253 came late to work.

It is tempting to embark on what a great example the education ministry is setting for children studying in the country, but what is more interesting is that the kingdom recently gave a 15 percent allowance for inflation and social insurance to all government employees.

Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf said that the government was spending about SR12 billion ($3.2 billion) every year on direct subsidies and he estimated that additional allowances would cost another SR10 billion ($2.6 billion)annually.

Perhaps the kingdom should take a chapter from schools, where only those with 100 percent attendance get rewarded.