TOKYO, 25 January 2004 — Members of the Ministry of Education’s Department of Curriculum Development are now in Tokyo, after leaving the city of Nagoya where they spent several days attending a training course in curriculum development hosted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
While in Nagoya, the delegation consisting of Dr. Abdulillah Abdullah Al-Mosharraf, the department’s director general, and four supervisors, Shakir Nasir Al-Shareef, Muhammad Abdullah Al-Zoghaibi, Abdullah Muhammad Al-Otaibi and Abdul Rahman Hamad Al-Huzaimy, also visited two Japanese schools as well as the Aichi Prefectural Education Center.
At the schools, the Saudi delegation met with students and administrators and exchanged ideas and information on the educational systems in both countries.
The delegation also visited Ruyuhoku Junior High School where they were received by Principal Junji Koyama. At Ruyuhoku Junior High School, both the Japanese and Saudis discussed problems facing junior high schools and students in both countries and methods of overcoming many of the challenges.
“We are very pleased to receive the delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This is a great opportunity for all of us to learn about the differences and similarities in our schools,” Koyama told Arab News.
Members of the Saudi delegation said they were impressed with what they had seen at Ruyuhoku. “There is a heavy emphasis on, and great pride in, Japanese culture which is continuously instilled in the students. Heavy emphasis is also placed on job experience, real-life skills and career choice development through actual hands-on experience.”
While at Ruyuhoku, the Saudi delegation was also given a tour of the school and met some of the students. Students put on a Japanese traditional drum concert for the visitors as well as a variety of other cultural activities such as a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.
In addition to the school visits, the Saudi delegation visited the Aichi Prefectural Education Center. Its main business includes educational research, conducting in-service training for teachers, training office staff of public elementary and junior high schools, providing educational information and information technology and hands-on training services for students.
“Our visit to the prefecture allowed us to exchange ideas and compare the methodology of teacher training and certification between Japan and Saudi Arabia. What we saw is what each district needs. Right now in Saudi Arabia, we deal with the administrative part of education after teachers have been trained in other places. At Aichi they actually train and develop their teachers. They create methods and models to prepare teachers better. This is something we are hoping to further develop in the Kingdom,” Mosharraf told Arab News.
In Tokyo, the members of the Saudi delegation will call on professionals in the field of textbook research and publication and meet members of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
