Education: Digital certificates, prevention of withholding results, and 24-hour response to grievances

As the curtain fell on the first semester exams in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, the Ministry of Education issued a set of decisive decisions aimed at enhancing transparency and ensuring students' rights, thus ending years of controversy over thorny issues such as withholding results in private schools and mechanisms for appealing grades.

Digital transformation and the end of the paper era

In a move aligned with the Kingdom's Vision 2030 goals of automating government services, the Ministry officially announced the end of the era of paper stamps and traditional manual authentications. The Ministry adopted the "digital document" generated through the "Noor" system as an official and certified alternative to paper certificates. These certificates feature a QR code, enabling universities, government agencies, and private entities to instantly verify the data and the certificate's authenticity. This saves parents time and effort, eliminating the need to visit schools to have copies stamped.

Protecting student rights in private schools

In a related development, the Ministry put an end to the practices of some private and international schools that linked the release of results to the payment of tuition fees. The new regulations in the fourth edition of the "Examinations Guide" explicitly state that receiving results and certificates is an inherent educational right of the student that cannot be forfeited or postponed for any reason. The Ministry thus separated the educational process from financial disputes, emphasizing that the collection of school fees must be carried out through official legal and judicial channels without jeopardizing the student's future or psychological well-being.

A rapid mechanism for resolving grievances

To ensure fairness and transparency, the new guidelines guarantee parents and students the right to formal appeals and a review of answer sheets. The Ministry has mandated that school principals receive appeal requests immediately upon the announcement of results and for a period of five working days. For the first time, a strict timeframe has been established for responses, requiring schools to form a review committee, decide on the appeal, and provide the parent with the final outcome within just 24 hours (one working day). This eliminates the lengthy waiting periods that previously caused anxiety for families.

Accuracy of monitoring and final review

On the technical level, within the monitoring committees, the mandatory "final review" mechanism was activated as soon as students left the examination halls. This mechanism mandates the exclusive use of a "green pen" to review the papers of students who failed or are eligible for leniency, ensuring that every recorded grade has undergone rigorous verification to prevent human error. The Ministry emphasized to all schools the necessity of recording and publishing grades electronically immediately upon completion of the verification process, so that students can access their results and academic standing without delay.