It is probably true to say that the most strongly-felt adult memories are to do with school days. Everyone has an opinion about education. Generally, surveying today’s school-going youngsters, that opinion is that education ain’t what it used to be.

A perceived lack of discipline, a lack of rigor, a lack of generalist education in favor of early specialization, are all common criticisms from those who haven’t sat in a classroom for many years. Yet education here in the Kingdom, every bit as much as in other advanced countries, is undergoing a process of steady change. Not least, it evolves with developments in the subjects taught. The sciences are the most conspicuous areas where there are always new things to teach, new understandings to be explained.

But there is also evolution in teaching methods. This includes not just the way pupils are taught. There are also changes in the way in which the teachers themselves are trained.

Education therefore is not something static, sterile even. It evolves and changes. Sometimes that change is driven by bureaucrats pursuing irrelevant targets. Thus 20 years ago in the UK, the government of the day promised to up Britain’s abysmal record in learning foreign languages. The half-baked answer was to have students do a year of German and a year of Spanish (in addition to the compulsory French) at the start of their secondary schooling. The result was two years of wasted periods in which very little was learned about either language.

The driving force for change in education has to be what still works best. A well-run educational system will spot the need for change and will respond accordingly.

Thus the new education plans for secondary schools in the Kingdom deserves close attention. The idea is to cut the number of courses in the intermediate and secondary stage curricula from 21 to 14 and just 12 for second and third year students. There is a clear imperative here. As the number of courses has increased, so has the burden on students. There are only so many hours in the school day. There are only so many hours that can be devoted to homework.

The requirements of exams loom over the school year. With so much ground to cover, it is hardly surprisingly that pupils and their teachers have resorted to rote learning. This is simply unsatisfactory. While it may get the students through their exams, it guarantees that they will not have a deeper grasp of a subject. If a pupil does not really understand the answer that he or she is giving to an exam question, then the whole exercise becomes pointless.

But the changes announced by the General Administration are not simply that children should learn more about less. Though the number of discrete subject is being cut, their content is not being thrown out completely. Thus for instance, four Arabic subject, grammar, literature, reading and rhetoric have been brought together in a single “Arabic’ module.

Apart from simplifying the timetable, there is a clear advantage in bringing multiple subjects into a single class. It means that, for instance with Arabic, the original four subjects can be taken in the round. Grammar can inform literature every bit as much as rhetoric can be informed by reading.

It might be argued that there is less of a case for lumping geography and history into “Social and National Studies.” However, clearly much thought has gone into the combination. If it is found not to be working as well as intended, adjustments can be made.

The overall motive behind the changes is compelling. Though children need to be prepared to work hard at school, education should never become a tyranny. On the face of it, this restructuring of the curriculum looks sensitive in terms of the challenges posed to students. It should not be forgotten that the changes will also affect teachers. Their enthusiastic support for the new way of doing this, is essential. And this extends beyond the new curriculum.

The exam system very rightly remain the main way for students to demonstrate to an objective audience, the state of their knowledge and understanding. But there is also now to be teacher assessment of every student’s progress. Despite its apparent simplicity, this is in fact a challenging process. It requires teachers to be objective about students with whom they work every school day. While probably no one better understands a pupil’s academic achievements and shortcomings, writing an absolutely fair appraisal is sometimes not easy.

Nevertheless, overall the new curriculum changes look balanced and sensible and should score high marks.