RIYADH, 18 September 2004 — A delegation of Saudi education officials has left for Japan to acquaint itself with the Japanese experience in education, which will eventually help the nationalization of work force in the Kingdom.
The move to train Saudi education officials including nursing education staff is mainly intended to help Saudi institutions to produce more trained personnel to cut the country’s reliance on foreign teachers and trainers.
Seiichi Miyoshi, Resident Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said here that six Ministry of Education officials have left for Tokyo to attend the training program and to acquaint themselves with the new trends in the Japanese education system. The team will visit various Japanese educational institutions during the 26-day long training program.
“This visit follows a very important exclusive study tour of five officials of the curriculum development department of the Ministry of Education to Japan earlier this year”, said Ihab Al-Sharqawi, JICA’s senior program manager. That visit had added significance keeping in view the new strategy of the Saudi government, which is revising the curriculum of Saudi schools and institutions in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Miyoshi pointed out that another delegation of Saudi nursing education specialists left for Japan on Tuesday to attend a 23-day intensive nursing education course in response to an invitation from the Japanese government.
