RIYADH, 5 January — Vice Governor of Riyadh Prince Sattam has invited proposals from international experts for the integration of information technology into the Kingdom's educational curricula. The prince was inaugurating the 16th National Conference for Computers at King Faisal Hall here yesterday.
IT experts from the Kingdom and abroad are attending the three-day conference, which will focus on use of information technology in education and review the experience of others in the field. It will also evaluate the status of computer learning and its application in Saudi schools, besides developing a national vision for an IT-based society.
A computer exhibition, sponsored by Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal, is being held on the sidelines of the conference.
Other highlights of the conference include a computer contest among students, with more than SR100,000 in cash prizes, and training sessions in computer science and Internet applications.
Speaking on the occasion, Prince Sultan ibn Salman, chairman of the Saudi Computer Society and secretary-general of the Higher Tourism Authority, stressed the importance of IT in the future of the Kingdom.
In his address, Minister of Education Dr. Muhammad Al-Rasheed said Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates had proposed a scheme to Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, to promote information technology and e-commerce in the Kingdom. The minister said Prince Abdullah had asked him to study the project with proposals from other leading IT companies.
The general manager of Microsoft Arabia added that Bill Gates was offering up to 90 percent discount on the software programs and peripherals to be installed in the locally assembled Zai computers. Al-Rasheed said Microsoft had also indicated its readiness to help the Kingdom in developing an e-government environment and other Internet-based solutions to promote efficiency at all levels of commerce and administration.
He talked about Microsoft's proposal to underline the growing importance that the Kingdom attaches to IT as a tool for scientific and educational progress. The minister also referred to Prince Abdullah's contribution to the promotion of computer education through the Watani project, under which Saudi students will be put through computer education programs.
He said the concept of literacy has undergone a change. "Now literacy only means the ability to communicate through a computer. "
Dr. Al-Rasheed said Al-Watani scheme would be implemented through the Kingdom's 23,000 schools, which have a total of four million students and 300,000 teachers.
A multi-media presentation done by Saudi students showed that skilled work-force in the Kingdom which stood at 20 percent of the manpower in 1950 had soared to 60 percent currently. It said the US had spent $30 billion to support computer education in schools, while Japan had allocated $1 billion.
