JEDDAH, 28 November 2006 — The Sixth National Dialogue Forum will begin today in the city of Sakaka in the northern region of Al-Jouf.
The three-day forum, entitled “Education: Reality and Development Methods,” has been organized and being run by King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center. Over 100 male and female participants have been invited to discuss educational issues.
Many officials and deputy ministers will be attending this year’s forum, which has been taking place for three years now. In previous forums, participants complained that their criticism of the government was pointless as officials were unaware of what was being said.
Along with ministers and officials from the education, the higher education, technical education and vocational training sectors, deputy ministers from the interior, finance, economy and planning, labor, culture and media, and civil rights ministries will attend.
Officials at the National Dialogue Center stated last April that the selection of education as the theme for this year’s conference was made following the recommendations of participants at previous forums. The question of the efficiency of the present education system was hotly debated, especially at the last three forums.
In previous forums, the Kingdom’s educational system has never been a subject that has been solely discussed. Many participants have spoken of the need to revise the country’s education system. Most feel the present system produces students who are experts at memorizing information but cannot evaluate and criticize.
In the most recent forum, the theme was “Us and the Other,” which dealt with how Saudis relate to the rest of the world. A majority of participants were fiercely critical of the Saudi curriculum, which blames “the other” for most international problems.
The Dialogue Center was founded in 2003 on the instructions of King Abdullah when he was crown prince with the aim of providing a suitable venue for Saudis to express their viewpoints on various issues.
Dialogue forums have been instrumental in promoting a culture of dialogue in Saudi society and have already discussed issues including national unity, moderation and extremism in religion, women’s rights and obligations, youth issues, Saudi perception of non-Saudis.
Sheikh Saleh Al-Hussein, the president of the center, said that the sessions will start at 8:30 a.m. and there will be 15 separate sessions. In the first day, the topics will cover general education, in other words pre-college education.
On the second day, discussions will tackle higher education problems and on the third and final day discussions will focus on technical education and will also announce the recommendations that will be presented to the king on a later date.
