Girls’ education in the Kingdom was not so easy to put in place. Here, unlike in some other countries, the very idea was a clash between two cultures. The older culture saw the education of girls as unnecessary and the new one called for general education of both sexes. The first school for girls in the Kingdom began its work in the 1960s. As is well-known, the majority of parents were reluctant to allow their daughters to go to school so the government used both carrot and stick in making education mandatory.
The policy-makers, however, realized that the idea of educating girls should be pushed slowly but steadily as society at that time was changing from a completely traditional one to a more modern one. The late King Faisal realized that it would be necessary to appoint a well-known religious individual to spearhead girls’ education in order to disarm the opposition. The man chosen to lead the Presidency of Girls’ Education (PGE) was Sheikh Abdul Aziz Nasser Al-Rashid, a religious scholar known for his integrity and discipline.
In a very few years, Saudi society accepted the new phenomenon and the public’s positive attitude favoring girls’ education surpassed all expectations. In fact, the success of girls’ education should be attributed to religious institutions and those who headed them. The core problem today, however, is not who heads the PGE but the failure of those who left things as they were without changes or modifications to keep abreast with contemporary requirements. In addition, the massive quantitative and qualitative expansion in the area of girls’ education was also not ta
I myself was in the head office of the Makkah PGE 20 years ago and I asked the following question: Why are you gentlemen doing this job where there are plenty of qualified who could do it, especially since the job is concerned with girls’ education? I was looked at with anger and hostility and they asked, “Are you suggesting that women should attend meetings of the council of ministers?” I said I had no objection to the head of the PGE being a man but that the rest of the work should be in the hands of women.
The PGE has succeeded in spreading girls’ education and its success has produced an army of educated women who are pushing for places in the Kingdom’s work force. In the past, the goal of all educated women was to work as a teacher but this is not so nowadays. Saudi women have qualified in many areas and disciplines and the number of graduates would have been unimaginable just a few decades ago. Moreover, Saudi women control one-third of the total investments in the country and their role also includes supporting families while many do that as well as working as scientists and intellectuals.
There are some one million schoolgirls in 11,000 schools all over the Kingdom. This number indicates the need for serious solutions to the problems. The PGE is incapable of accommodating the needs of future education for girls if we take into account the diversity of disciplines and specializations. What is the use of thousands of Saudi women graduates if we keep them home looking at their degrees hanging on the walls? Are we only wasting time, money and effort in educating girls and then banning them from participating in the country’s development? No doubt the system and idea of girls’ education must be changed according to present needs and plans.
