JEDDAH/RIYADH, 7 May 2003 — Girls’ education in the Kingdom has been through a period of dramatic change, culminating in the abolition last year of the Presidency for Girls’ Education and the subsequent merger of boys’ and girls’ education under the direct authority of the Ministry of Education. The abolition followed a fire in a Makkah girls’ school in which 14 girl students died. The fire was blamed on poor safety standards, the fact that the doors to the school were locked, and the inability of passers-by to help the girls because they were not relatives.
Last week, the Cabinet provided a major boost to the sector by creating an independent annual budget for girls’ education. It was also announced that two new deputy ministers — for girls’ and boys’ education — would be appointed to assist Education Minister Dr. Muhammad Al-Rasheed.
The possibility of appointing a woman as deputy minister for girls’ education has not been ruled out. These moves are seen as path-breaking strides toward developing the sector as an independent entity.
Many people think that women themselves should play a greater role in girls’ education, as they can better understand the educational needs of the country’s young women.
“What is needed is someone who is well qualified,” said Dr. Arjumand Warsi, a professor at Riyadh’s King Saud University. “And there are several very well-educated Saudi women who could handle this responsibility.”
She added that the girls’ medical college where she teaches was formerly headed by a man but two years ago a woman was appointed dean.
“Since then, the department has considerably improved,” Dr. Warsi told Arab News.
She pointed to the large number of businesswomen in the Kingdom and said that the appointment of a woman in such an influential role could bring about dramatic changes in the education system as well.
Aqeela Ali Chishty, principal of the girls’ section of Al-Noor International School, said that a woman deputy minister would encourage other women to take on senior positions in the education sector and could result in significant improvements in the girls’ education system.
“Such qualified women,” she pointed out, “could train other women for similar jobs.”
With more qualified women in charge of girls’ education, the standard of education will also improve and there will be a larger number of well-educated Saudi women, she added.
Aqeela said that more women are needed to oversee the girls’ education system, as men cannot understand many of the problems young women face. Some male inspectors from the Ministry of Education pay visits to the school, she said, but there is no open discussion between them and the women there. As a result, the men in charge never learn about the problems that exist in the schools or the improvements that need to be made. Had female inspectors been sent to evaluate these schools, the situation would have been very different, she argued.
“Women can always understand other women’s needs better than men,” said Dr. Laila Zainulabidin of King Saud University. “And this is especially true when it is girls’ education.”
Women have a better idea of what is needed to create a conducive learning environment for other women and would also be able to solve the problems that women face in the course of their studies more effectively than men, she said.
According to Aqeela, girls’ education is in need of considerable improvement. There is a general laxness regarding girls’ education in the Kingdom, with both teaching methods and materials needing to be upgraded. She added that although there are many well-educated Saudi women, they often lack the confidence and training needed to maneuver in a competitive and male-dominated work force.
“We need to give girls a better education,” said Aqeela. “We need to concentrate on proper education and character building, not just promoting students to the next class.”
According to Aqeela, such improvements may finally come about when women are given a larger role in girls’ education.
Dr. Randa Taiseer, a physician at King Khaled University Hospital, thinks that the present education system for girls is satisfactory and meets the educational needs of young women in the Kingdom. However, she contends that the appointment of a woman as deputy minister would be “a positive step”.
Female staff in the education sector and students have high expectations of the Education Ministry. Arab News spoke to teachers and students in Jeddah about their hopes and aspirations.
Dalal Abdullah Kaaki, headmistress of the 40th Girls Secondary School, said that her main expectation was that whoever took charge of girls’ education should focus on a well-planned goal.
“It doesn’t matter to me if they put a man or a woman in the office. What is really important is that they put somebody there who used to work in a classroom. Eventually he or she will understand the demands and problems of our job. Moreover, I believe that our Ministry of Education should admit that we are behind a lot of countries when it comes to our educational standard. I want the ministry official to learn from countries that improved their education system and thereby impacted directly on society.”
Dalal added that girls’ education needs to be completely overhauled.
“Our curriculum is a big problem. We’ve been producing students who do not specialize in any particular field, and this affects the productivity of our nation for years. Besides, it should be more coherent, as most of the subjects we teach duplicate information.”
Dalal emphasized the importance of second language to Saudi students. “We need our students to learn a second language as well as being exposed to other nations’ history and heritage. It’s so strange that our students graduate from schools without studying World War I or II,” she said.
Dalal said girls’ education called for injection of massive input in terms of both human and financial resources.
Samya, a teacher in a public high school in Jeddah, said: “I don’t bother much about the names and administrative changes that happened in the last two years. But I do care about solutions to the problems of both teachers and students. I think the ministry should start working from the bottom up. For instance, they focused on the school buildings, and that was a very big step. We should now concentrate on what we are really teaching inside these buildings. Are we helping our country by teaching the old, repetitive curriculum despite the fact that it is no longer relevant to the modern world and its requirements?”
Fayza, another teacher, said that if teachers are allowed to be creative and adopt a new teaching methodology it will put a positive spin on school education as a whole.
“School education is bound to witness a transformation. We are not being treated as creative people. We need more time to encourage the students to be creative and use modern teaching methods,” Fayza added.
