JEDDAH: More than 70,000 school students in the western region of the Kingdom have benefited from Saudi Aramco’s mobile library program in the current academic year.

“A fleet of 12 mobile book libraries this year visited 17 boys’ schools in Baha, Baljurashi, Aqiq and adjoining villages. Their visits covered 43 girls’ schools in Jeddah, including one each in Thuwal and Dhahban,” Nabil Baashan, director of Saudi Aramco’s western regional operations, told Arab News yesterday.

Baashan said the mobile units would visit remaining schools in Jeddah next year and then go to schools in the Makkah in coordination with the education departments in the region. “The touring library program was launched in the western region 12 years ago. The libraries cover a range of subjects including social sciences, arts, history, Islamic sciences, fiction, geography and biology,” Baashan said.

The mobile libraries loaned 11,000 copies of 240 titles to students of various classes, he said.

The Saudi Aramco official thanked the education authorities in the region for helping make the project a success. He stressed the importance of cultivating the reading habit in children.

Saudi Aramco first started the mobile library program in 1982 to help children develop a love of reading. “The libraries that tour cities and remote schools are joyfully welcomed by throngs of students and teachers,” the official said.

One of the major aims of the program is to help students choose material for reading and research.

Throughout the years, the company has received numerous awards for this program, which is designed to spread knowledge and love of reading among elementary school children. Commendations have also been received for the role these libraries play in educational and scientific events and exhibits. The libraries have visited about 3,000 schools and loaned around 1.5 million books.

The base of the libraries, the Saudi Aramco Exhibit, contains a library that stocks more than 50,000 Arabic volumes.