Deputy Minister for Women’s Education, Norah Al-Faiz, opened the Early Childhood Education Forum at the Jeddah Hilton Wednesday under the patronage of Minister of Education Prince Khalid Al-Faisal.

The two-day forum is organized by Stellar Group with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education with the aim of raising awareness of the significance of quality education in the formative years of a child and to develop the women’s educational system.

Conceptualized as a platform for the exchange of best practices among educators, practitioners, parents and stakeholders, the forum seeks to increase primary school enrolment rates in the Arab world, particularly Saudi Arabia.

Al-Faiz stressed the significance of early childhood education in building a generation that is able to tackle future challenges confidently and efficiently. Additionally, she emphasized the importance of strengthening cooperation between the private and public sectors to prepare future generations and keep pace with the new developments in education.

She also said that the event seeks to raise awareness of the role that quality education plays in the formative years of children and promote the exchange of best practices among early learning practitioners in Saudi Arabia.

“Through investing in the education of Saudi children we seek to build a new generation that is conscious of its responsibility toward themselves, their families and the society. To achieve this ambition, we need to adopt a comprehensive approach that links early education stage to other education stages. Equally important is that the private and public sectors effectively participate in the achievement of this goal, and provide the necessary support to the development initiatives of our nation as education is both a social responsibility and national duty,” she said.

She pointed out that cooperation between the private and public sectors is important to prepare future generations and keep pace with the new developments and changes and meet the national goals of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Paying attention to the quality of early childhood programs is at the core of education reforms as this stage creates the foundation of education. Delayed investment may result in negative impact on the children’s growth and education level, and consequently heavy losses to the communities and countries in general.

Huda Al-Amoudi, CEO, Stellar Group said that research over time has indicated the imperative need for initiatives such as the Early Childhood Education Forum.

“We have left no stone unturned to ensure that the forum brings in international experts to provide our practitioners with up to date tools and best practices. We look forward to a stimulating discussion and participation from parents and practitioners to take Saudi Arabia to the next level of professionalism in the delivery of the curriculum to young children,” she said.

“More importantly, parents, teachers and policymakers must understand their responsibility toward early childhood education. Raising awareness of this role is a key objective for which the Early Childhood Education Forum has been organized through the provision of a platform that brings together all stakeholders such as family, teacher, and school administrations, and the Ministry of Education under one roof,” she said.

She told Arab News that she spent her time abroad and came to Saudi Arabia with the goal of bringing changes in children’s early education.

The event included 20 workshops with international and national experts that explained the needs of early education with panel discussions anticipated to both motivate and challenge conventional thinking on educational best practices.

Theforum discussed a wide range of important topics that affect the early education of children, including ‘How to Detect Children with Reading Disabilities’, ‘Patterns of Emotional Abuse Affecting Children’, ‘Efficiency and Considerations of Mathematics in Preschool Age’, ‘How to Educate Our Children to Take Responsibility’, ‘Promoting Emotional Intelligence Skills in Early Childhood’, ‘Mathematics in Preschool: Luxury or Necessity’, and a host of other topics that focus on the overall development of the concepts and practices of early childhood education.