The Ministry of Education has warned private and foreign primary schools that the Kingdom does not allow mixed classes for boys and girls.

The regulations do not permit coeducation at schools even at the primary level, the ministry stated.

The ministry noticed last year that some schools had violated its order to keep separate classes for boys and girls. This had taken place during the ministry's new experiment of assigning primary classes for boys to woman teachers, media reports said on Monday.

The ministry ordered the owners of the schools that used the experiment to monitor the extent to which their schools were following the conditions laid down by Deputy Minister of Education Noura Al-Faiz.

The ministry would conduct inspections and record violations in a register that has to be signed by representatives of school administrations and owners.

If a school administration does not rectify the violation within one month, the regional director of schools will issue a written warning to the school owner.

If a school does not comply after a warning, the matter would be reported to the Administration of Private and Foreign Schools, which would cancel the school’s permit for women to teach boys.

The ministry currently stipulates that women be allowed to teach primary school boys and girls in separate classes. The boys and girls should also be separated at interval times, at toilets and all other occasions.