Shabaka is a company that has no care or concern for the person and treats its employees like mules. When you are interviewed they like to toot their own horn about paying its employees on time. It brags about its program as one of the most successful in Saudi. What you learn once your feet hit the ground is the opposite. The pay comes late every month. They rationalize it by saying that "Saudi law allows us to pay you 30 days late." That is not true. Saudi law requires employers to pay by the 5th of the following month. Many teachers waited weeks or months for pay. The "magic" of the program are the teachers who are willing to work extra hours to do "data entry" that most other schools contract out to vendors set up to do I.T. Teachers are supposed to have only 20 contact hours and 5 hours of admin, but often times they find that 10-12 hours of admin each week is the norm. Not only that, but due to the constant "running" of teachers away from this plantation, and the turn-over rate being as high as it is, teachers often find that 40-50 students per class is overwhelming and insane. There is a wide divide between new teachers and old ones who should have gotten off the ship long ago and there is a culture and environment of bullying and intimidation, as well as an expectation that teachers will serve as mules when there is heavy lifting to be done. Management tends to gaslight and prey on teachers with mental health issues, low-self esteem, or fears that they can attach to performance evaluations. Teachers put in long hours and do perform duties that are not truly theirs to do, but many will do them because they feel "being a part of the team" will set them in good stead. If you decide to say "no, thank you" to doing what is not in your job description to do, you will be written up, ostracized, and treated as though your personal needs don't matter. This year, one of the women teachers committed suicide after a long period of putting up with the stress. When they were informed of this their response was to blame the teacher. This teacher left their employ one week before committing suicide and left due to conflict that the management failed to address. If your desire is to have a positive experience in Saudi Arabia, and there are many other companies who can provide that for you, you'd be wise to avoid this company. There is no benefit waiting for you here. Many teachers who have left have sought counseling and diagnosis of PTSD are not out of the norm. You will find that the lunacy of the management and the lack of humanity in its practices have created a culture of division, desperation, and a diabolical joy in watching the pain they cause the entire teaching staff. If you are thinking to come here, I'd turn around if I were you.
