Boys to attend private schools for girls in Riyadh

Riyadh: Boys will be allowed to attend private schools for girls for the preliminary grade levels in the coming academic year.

According to Al Watan newspaper, Deputy Minister of Education for Girls Education Noura Fayez sent a memo to private schools that registration will commence for young boys.

The memo explained that young boys could be taught by female teachers, provided that they are in separate classrooms.

The memo settled an ongoing debate about whether or not boys will be allowed to register in girl schools.

Samira Al Hakran, the dean of Al Ferdos private school for girls, said that she expects a massive rush of young boys to register in the coming academic year.

Schedules for the boys and girls would have to be structured so that the two sexes remained separate and there would be no overlap.

A Saudi cleric had issued a fatwa in February stating that those who promote co-education should be executed.

Shaikh Abdul Rahman Al Barrak said the mixing of men and women in the workplace or educational institutions was religiously prohibited.