JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s education is going through an important phase in its history as a result of the reforms introduced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, to improve the country’s educational standard matching with its position in the comity of nations, the new education minister said.
Speaking to top officials at the ministry, Prince Faisal bin Abdullah said no compromise and negligence would be tolerated in the education sector. “We need more efforts in strengthening Saudi Arabia’s position by building brains and investing in humans,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the minister as saying.
Prince Faisal, who was sworn in as the minister of education on Monday, thanked King Abdullah for putting his confidence in him. “I pray to the Almighty that He may help me to fulfill this trust in the best manner, realizing the hopes and aspirations of the Saudi leadership and people.”
Speaking about educational reforms, he said King Abdullah has allocated SR9 billion for a new general education development project, which is named after the king. “This project is being supported by Saudi and foreign experts,” he added.
King Abdullah had also allocated large amounts of money from surplus budgets to construct new schools. “A number of other development projects are also under way to overhaul the Kingdom’s education system to cope with global developments in the field,” the minister pointed out.
He said he would do whatever necessary to improve the performance of government schools.
Before meeting the officials, Prince Faisal, accompanied by deputy ministers Faisal bin Muammar and Khaled Al-Sabti, visited Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh and reviewed important aspects of Saudi education. The mufti praised the ministry’s efforts to bring about educational renaissance and wished the new ministers every success in their new roles.
The King Abdullah Project for the Development of Public Education has allocated SR4.2 billion to improve the educational environment and SR3.58 billion for extra-curricular activities.
The training and development of teachers is another thrust of the project and for this purpose SR2.94 billion has been set aside. A curriculum development program will receive SR980 million. Academics and other experts are working on the project’s executive plan, which will be ready shortly.
The project aims at helping the Kingdom keep pace with scientific and technological development and is devised making use of the successful experiments of countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, China, New Zealand, Finland, France, Ireland, Britain, Canada and the United States.
