JEDDAH, 12 September 2006 — The King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue has begun preparatory meetings for the Sixth National Dialogue Forum to be held in the northern city of Al-Jouf in December. The theme of the forum is “Education: Facts and Ways of Development.”
Sixty men and women attended the first such meeting in the Southern region in Najran on Saturday. The meeting was chaired by Abdullah Naseef, the center’s vice president.
Participants discussed several issues relating to ways of improving the quality of education. Sarah Al-Dowais, one of the participants, said that attendees raised various points of view and listened to each other’s opinions. One of the topics discussed related to “religious discrimination” in school textbooks.
“I suggested that the Ministry of Education consider the idea of introducing the different schools of theology to our students. This will help the students understand each other better and will lead to a healthy dialogue,” she said.
Al-Dowais said all the participants agreed on the importance of modernizing the curriculum and equipping schools with new technology. “Most of the schools in the region lack laboratories and libraries,” he said.
Fahd Al-Sultan, head of the organizing committee, said discussions at the final session revolved around the necessity of engaging the private sector, the development of curricula, the relationship between the education and media sectors and teachers’ qualifications.
Al-Sultan said that much of the discussion was very similar to what was discussed at the first stage meetings in the northern region earlier this year.
“The views about the educational system are almost the same at both meetings,” said Al-Sultan. He added that one of the demands raised at the meeting was to encourage tolerance through textbooks.
Along with the preparatory meeting the center organized two other events — one for teachers and the other for students. Al-Sultan said an open gathering, entitled “The Teacher’s Role in Spreading the Culture of Dialogue,” discussed the ways and methods of cultivating the culture of dialogue in schools. Some 400 teachers, both male and female, participated.
“The meeting was held in coordination with the Education Ministry and was a big success. The teachers were enthused to discuss informally the ways and techniques of successful dialogue,” Al-Sultan said. He said the other workshop targeted 60 high school students and tackled similar topics.
Saturday’s session was the first of the second stage preparatory meetings, which will also be held in three other southern cities — Abha, Jizan and Baha. The first stage meetings covered the Northern region.
