Saudi mothers start new academic year driving their kids to school

Saudi Arabia’s new academic year started differently a couple of days ago, with Saudi women driving their children to school, ten weeks after women were granted licenses to drive in the kingdom.

Saudi mothers expressed their joy with this new experience which not only eased financial burdens with recruiting a driver, but added quality time between them and their children on the way to school.

Saudi media personality Halima Bheir, who documented her trip, driving her children to school, said to Al Arabiya English: “The decision to allow women to drive has shown a positive impact for many mothers and women working in the education sector in Saudi Arabia.”

She added: “I was having problems sending my children to school, and I was living in constant worries because of the daily follow-up with the drive, but at the moment I am happy to be able to follow up on all my children’s affairs, driving them to the school. There are many Saudi female teachers, and employees who benefited from this decision easing cost of transport and drivers.”

“For the first time in my life, my long-awaited wish to drive my daughter and my son to their school, and to feel safe together, instead of having a driver,” she said.

Many accidents involving vehicles carrying female teachers have occurred in the past as a result of reckless drivers.

In the beginning of every academic year, Saudi families used to look for expat drivers to take their children to schools. Now they are not worried about recruitment of foreign drivers as many mothers have taken up the duty of transporting their children to school.