JEDDAH, 26 April 2003 — A high-level panel which was assigned to study the prospect of introducing English language lessons to primary schoolchildren will present its final report next week, Education Minister Dr. Mohammed Al-Rasheed announced yesterday.
The Supreme Committee will then review the report prepared by a panel for Educational Policy headed by Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Dukhayyil, rector of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.
The report follows a Cabinet meeting on Aug. 19 last year, when it was decided to postpone the plan to introduce English language lessons to primary schoolchildren, saying the move required further consideration. The Cabinet asked the Supreme Committee, which supervises the Kingdom’s school curricula, to report its findings to the higher authorities so that they could take a final decision on the issue.
The Cabinet issued the postponement decision after the Education Ministry had already begun preparations to start teaching English to fourth graders (10-year-olds) during the last academic year, which started in September 2002.
Currently, English education starts in the seventh grade (13-year-olds) at public schools. Private international schools, which come under the direct supervision of the Education Ministry, do all their teaching in English. The ministry had already trained some 300 Saudi teachers and was in the process of hiring 1,300 foreign teachers for the project. The ministry later decided to appoint the foreign English teachers at intermediate and secondary schools in place of Saudis, who will go for training.
The plan to expand English education was adopted a few months ago by Minister Al-Rasheed following a heated debate over the issue in the Shoura Council.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Ahaidab of Imam Mohammed ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh said that a number of subsidiary panels have been set up at Saudi universities to study the issue. “They will present their studies to the supreme committee shortly,” he added.
Prominent members in the main panel set up for the study include Dr. Ibrahim Al-Darees, secretary-general of the supreme committee, Dr. Shuaib Al-Nafeesa, director general of Arab Education Bureau and Dr. Ali Al-Khabti, director of research at the Education Ministry.
Saudi Arabia allocates about one-fifth of its general budget for education. At present, there are 11,856 government schools of which 6,011 are primary schools with 58,758 classrooms, 1,165,378 students and 86,000 teachers.
There are 3,063 intermediate schools with 20,620 classrooms, 537,331 students and 40,337 teachers, and 1,475 secondary schools with 11,230 classrooms and 334,567 students. The Department for Girls Education runs 13,598 primary, intermediate and secondary schools, in addition to institutes and colleges with 2.22 million students and 214,262 female teachers and administrators.
