JEDDAH, 1 June 2003 — Dar Al-Fikr, a non-profit, private school in Jeddah, held a graduation ceremony yesterday for 52 students who were taught under a new curriculum considered groundbreaking for Saudi Arabia.
“The new curriculum has been taught at the school for the past three years while it was under review by the Ministry of Education,” Samer Ibrahim Kurdi, a member of the school’s board of directors, told Arab News.
Many of the textbooks used in the Kingdom’s schools have not been modified for years, according to Kurdi.
“Some parents were complaining that the textbooks used to teach their children are the exact same ones the parents themselves studied from,” Kurdi added.
Some textbooks still use camels and sheep in calculating taxation under Islamic law.
“But now Islamic banking is being taught using modern-day examples. Though camels and sheep still apply in certain aspects of Saudi life and culture, the majority of students graduating in the Kingdom’s schools would be better prepared for higher education and the real world by learning about more up-to-date subjects. This is the model that future education in Saudi Arabia will be based on,” Kurdi told Arab News.
At the graduation ceremony, Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed pushed a button which launched for the first time in the Kingdom an online interactive learning station.
