Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Saudi Arabia (Ratification: 2014)

Article 2(3) of the Convention. Age of completion of compulsory schooling. The Committee previously noted that section 162 of the Labour Law and section 34 of its implementing regulation establish that the minimum age for admission to employment or work is 15 years. However, noting that children entered school at the age of 6 and completed the compulsory education at the age of 12, the Committee requested the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure compulsory education up to the minimum age for admission to employment or work of 15 years.

The Committee notes with satisfaction the adoption of Ministerial Decision No. 14 of 2014 which, read jointly with Ministerial Decision No. 139 of 2004, establishes the age of compulsory education up to 15 years, in line with the minimum age for admission to employment. The Committee also notes that according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics the net enrolment rate in primary school reached 99.77 per cent in 2018 in comparison to 96.42 per cent in 2014. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of Ministerial Decision No. 14 of 2014, including statistical information on the school enrolment and attendance rates in both primary and secondary education.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.