Saudi- Restrictions force Ph.D. student to abandon studies become cabbie

(MENAFN- Arab News) JEDDAH: Call it a conspiracy of circumstances against Hamed a Saudi Ph.D. scholar who had to abandon his studies and work as a private taxi driver on the Makkah-Madinah highway in order to support his family.
Hamed took this route because his university asked him to devote all his time to his doctorate and the Ministry of Education rejected him because he was employed.
'It was not easy to leave my SR10000-per-month position as an education supervisor and work as a taxi driver often for 17 hours a day' says Hamed. He says his job as a private driver exposes him to risks including traffic violations while minimal experience in the field requires long working hours and depending on a strong social network.
'Despite a salary I am still in debt to a lot of people as I can often earn as much as SR12000 or as little as SR 45' he said noting that it is difficult to find a job with a company as they reject anyone who is not registered with GOSI.
'I realized I was not alone in this crisis when I found another driver at King Abdulaziz airport who was working in this field despite having a Ph.D. in chemistry and not being able to find a job' he says. He said he is among 60 applicants rejected by the ministry and forced to look for other forms of employment.
Hamed questioned current university regulations that require students to choose between studying and working at the same time. Universities around the world only require students to allocate a part of their time to studies he added.
He said he has little hope that the ministry would solve this problem especially it hasn't yet solved the problem of the delay of academic books at schools.