Experts and members of the Shoura Council's education committee said that the budgetary allocation of SR80 billion toward the education sector has been made with the aim of raising the educational levels in the Kingdom.

They pointed out that part of this support was targeted at training teachers and expected the Kingdom’s schools to turn into smart schools in the near future.

A member of the education committee in the Shoura Council, Ahmad bin Saad Al-Mefreh, appreciated the approval of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah of the Ministry of Education’s decision to set up a comprehensive executive program for the King Abdullah project to develop public education and offer generous support to implement the program within the next five years.

He said this is clear evidence of the king’s support for public education because he realizes the importance of education in achieving all-round growth and development.

“Part of this support will target teachers by raising their capacity through training and improving their situation by reviewing financial allotment for teachers in villages and hamlets. The support will offer an attractive teaching environment for teachers and pupils, because it improves the school environment. I hope all educators will be ready to assume the responsibility of this historic phase, because we have a great need for constructive thought and loyal performance,” he said.

“To develop education, we need to send teachers on scholarships to develop their abilities. We also need to conduct internal workshops to develop their teaching skills,” said member of the education committee Mohammad Al-Khnaizi.

He confirmed that developing education in the Kingdom needs a developed infrastructure, because teachers and schools can’t develop without creating a suitable infrastructure.

“We need to be in line with educational variants, to renew school equipment whether they are tables, modern communication systems, labs, language labs and the Internet,” he added.

He called for reviewing exam methods, pointing out that tests are illogical. He expected the Kingdom’s schools to turn into smart schools where pupils will use iPads instead of books.

An expert in economic affairs, Fadel Alboeinein, confirmed the allocation of SR80 billion to develop education through the school environment and the educational system. “The main reason behind allocating this sum is because educational outputs were not up to standard and they didn’t meet the need to establish a strong base for future knowledge economy. I think there are three basic fields that need development: the school environment, including buildings and a specialized center, the school curriculum, where we need to lay more focus on scientific standards, and developing teachers’ skills. If we don’t provide schools with competent teachers the educational outputs will be of low quality,” he said.

Economist Mohammad Al-Omran said that education is very important in all parts of the world. “The level of private education surpassed that of public education, which makes it logical to allocate large amounts of money to develop the educational environment,” he said.