One can still remember when almost everything that people needed was sought in big cities. Villages, medium-sized towns and the rest of the country lacked many basic services, and institutions of higher education were found only in big cities. People had to go to cities in search of education and work. Newly planned colleges, industrial areas and other services were exclusive to big cities. Even trade fairs, including agricultural ones, are still held in cities rather than in the areas that provide the cities with these products. Take, for example, the date festivals held in Riyadh. The major date-producing areas are in Al-Ahsa, Al-Kharj, Qasim and Madinah which provide 75 percent of the country’s needs, but they host no festivals.
Successive waves of migration into urban centers have in a few years swelled the population of Riyadh to five million, a sizable percentage of the Kingdom’s entire population. The situation now is such that we have cities packed with people and almost empty towns and villages whose populations left in search of work and services.
There was, however, one government body aware of the situation and its serious future effects. That body which worked to minimize the damage was the former Presidency of Girls Education before it was dissolved and attached to the Ministry of Education. Instead of focusing on cities, the presidency chose to open girls’ colleges and higher educational institutions in different parts of the Kingdom. Thus it helped to check the movement into cities where, in some cases, the entire family had to move in order to be close to their daughter studying there.
We need to expand such initiatives to include other areas. It is amazing that there are no agricultural colleges in places such as Al-Ahsa, Madinah and Al-Kharj, traditionally known as major agricultural areas.
— Arab News Local Press 13 October 2003
