Minister of Education Prince Faisal bin Abdullah yesterday launched the first international conference on school transport at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center (RICEC) which is being held under the patronage of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

The three-day conference, which will run until Oct. 9, is organized by the Ministry of Education in cooperation with Tatweer Education Holding and Tatweer Educational Transportation Service Company and sponsored by Hafel Company.

The conference was initially launched Saturday by Deputy Minister of Education for Girls Nura Al-Faiz who said the conference demonstrated the care given by King Abdullah to the educational process and for the creation of a safe environment for the transport of students and teachers.

She said some 25 experts from 12 countries are taking part in the conference in addition to representatives of Saudi government departments and local and international universities and organizations.

The conference is the first of its kind in the Kingdom and aims to exchange ideas for the development of school transport based on other international experiences. Through workshops and discussions, the Ministry of Education plans to reach solutions for transporting more than 6 million (national and expatriate) students and teachers to and from schools.

In July, the minister said a decision has been approved for the establishment of an educational development company to support the educational process, including school transport services.

CEO of Tatweer Educational Transportation Service Company Sami Al-Dibaikhi said the targeted number of students to be transported by 2021 is 2.8 million of which 60 percent are female.

A number of workshops and work papers will be presented during the conference including integrated system for safe transportation of children to school, improving traffic safety around schools in Riyadh, quality in school transport, safe transport for children of special needs, how to increase efficiency and reduce transportation budget and other related topics.