JEDDAH, 1 September — About four million male and female students around the Kingdom will be attending school and university today after a three-month-long vacation.
The Ministry of Education, the Higher Education Ministry and the Presidency for Girls’ Education have geared up for the new year, setting up special committees to help improve academic standards.
Security and traffic police have also made preparations for the heavy traffic that is likely to be a reality from the early morning hours of today. About 4,000 flowers and road safety guides will be given to the students and parents during the first week.
Education Minister Dr. Muhammad Al-Rasheed said classes will commence in the first hours of this morning and extended a warm welcome to students on the occasion of the new academic year.
In a television address yesterday, the minister advised parents to take an active interest in their children’s studies.
“The first and most effective schools for our children are their homes, where they receive moral and religious guidance from an early age,” he pointed out.
Al-Rasheed also urged the media to produce more useful educational programs to help increase children’s general knowledge.
He disclosed the ministry’s plan to teach computer science and the English language from Class V of elementary school and highlighted the government’s other efforts to promote education throughout the country.
The Ministry of Education is celebrating its golden jubilee this year.
“Teaching students English when they are young will better prepare them for more advanced English they learn later,” said Mansour Ghazali, head of the English language section in Jeddah.
Meanwhile, investors in bookstores have complained to the authorities against the sale of used school textbooks, saying that the practice will affect their business.
Ahmad Mansour, owner of a center which sells used books, told Arab News that his center was catering to the needs of university and college students, charging reasonable prices without encroaching on the market of big bookstores.
