JEDDAH, 29 August — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd, in a statement marking the golden jubilee of the Education Ministry yesterday, reaffirmed the government’s desire to further develop the country’s education system to produce a new generation of scientists and thinkers.
King Fahd urged education authorities to exert their utmost efforts to provide good education to all the children in the country, and to promote Islamic faith and teachings.
“Our education system must be developed in tune with the requirements of the modern age,” he said.
King Fahd was addressing Education Minister Dr. Muha-mmad Al-Rasheed, ministry undersecretaries and education department directors who came to congratulate him on the occasion of the ministry’s 50th anniversary.
King Fahd was the Kingdom’s first education minister.
Al-Rasheed thanked the king for the tremendous support received from him by the ministry and education officials throughout the country.
The government, which gives top priority to education, has allocated about one-fifth of its general budget, or SR49.38 billion, to the sector this year.
There are eight universities and 11,856 public schools, including 1,475 secondary schools, in addition to thousands of private schools in the country. The Presidency for Girls’ Education runs 13,598 schools and colleges, with 2.22 million students and 214,262 female teachers and administrators.
The education minister also briefed the king on his ministry’s preparations for the next academic year that begins on Saturday. Earlier addressing a meeting of education officials in Jeddah, Al-Rasheed urged the officials to come out with innovative ideas to improve the country’s educational facilities.
He said computer science and English will be taught at all levels of education beginning from the next academic year (2002-2003) and added that the agency for educational development at the ministry will draw up a curriculum to teach the two subjects.
