Education has been among the first and prominent benefits following the modern Saudi Arabia development. The directorate of education was started in 1925 followed by basic regulations in the following year that laid down the centralized national system foundation. A new era in modern education development also started in 1953 and this was enhanced with the establishment of a new board in December the same year that served the purpose of the ministry of education as part of council of ministers. The first appointed minister in the education council, King Fahd Ibn Abdulaziz tirelessly guided the ministry through modernization and expansion of educational resources. The result of the ministry’s establishment was the opening up of more schools and expansion of public education. The exceeding mushrooming of schools consequently led to setting up school districts in various parts of the modern Saudi Arabia to aid the ministry in spreading some of its roles (Bowen, 2015).
In 1958, Saudi Arabia alongside other Arab league members agreed on a uniform system of education that was based on six years at the elementary level, three years in intermediate school and another three years in the secondary cycle. They, however, agreed on different programs of higher education. The national development plans emphasized on the basic philosophy for the modernization success of Saudi Arabia (Bowen, 2015).
The philosophy was grounded on two principles that are, developing the required human resources through training and education and building a strong and comprehensive economic infrastructure. Owing to their importance to the state's development plans, economic resources, infrastructure, human resource development along with social resources such as education was given priority.
The general objectives of the education policies in Saudi Arabia are to ensure that the system of education is efficient, meets the socio-economic and religious standards as well as extending to the standards of other countries. Most importantly, it is aimed to eradicate illiteracy among the citizens of the state and enhance the lives of the Saudi adults. Many agencies of the government are involved in administration, planning and implementation of the governmental policies in the nation.
The education ministry is in charge of setting standards for the state’s educational system for public and private schools as well as overseeing special education for the students with disabilities. The system of the presidency for educating girls was done away with in early 2003, and the role of the body taken up by the ministry of education which became responsible for supervising nursery and kindergarten schools. The ministry also took the responsibility of administering colleges and girls schools (Bowen, 2015).
The General Organization for Vocational Training and Technical Education body came into existence in 1980. The body was established to help in the coordination and implementation of the manpower development plans of the kingdom as well as supervising all the training centers constituents. The ministry of higher education was started in the year 1975 (Zuhur, 2011). The purpose of this ministry was to implement the higher education policy of the kingdom in the swiftly expanding sphere of post-secondary learning. Before this period, the programs of higher learning were under the ministry of education.
Upon the establishment of a ministry of higher learning, it became responsible for the provision of support and services to all the institutions of higher education such as colleges and universities in the kingdom. Moreover, it took the responsibility for supervising, coordinating and following up the programs of post-secondary and connecting with the other development programs of the state through administering administrative and technical manpower. Finally, the ministry of higher learning was set to supervise the scholarship programs of Saudi Arabia students going for international studies, enhance the coordination of international inter-university relations as well as overseeing the cultural and educational mission offices in various countries (Int'L, 2015).
In 1960, education ministry started a new program of special education, and this started with opening the first institute by the government to support the training of the blind male students. In 1964, the government successively established another institute to support the blind females. In the same year, another institute was founded to support the students with hearing impairment.
The Amal Institute in Riyadh of Saudi Arabia was set to assist the deaf children. By the time when the deaf institution was operationalized, the other institutions set to assist the blind were now well established and the facilities for the blind expanded. Al-Tarbiyah Al Fikriyah was another institute for the handicapped in Riyadh meant to train students suffering from mental disorders. It was a mixed school aimed to provide education for both girls and boys (Aarts, 2005).
The expansion of resources for students with disabilities has risen steadily with the rise of new institutions of learning in different geographical areas to support the education system of persons with disabilities. The statistics in Saudi Arabia shows that the institutions providing special education to children with a disability has rose from a single institution in 1960 to 27 schools in the year 1987. The number, however, has exceedingly increased and is approximately 80 in the current educational system statistics. Presently, there are 28 schools for the deaf students, ten schools for the blind, and sixteen for the mentally handicapped have been established among others playing the role of training students with various disabilities (Zuhur, 2011).
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also been at the forefront in enhancing equity in education among several countries which are known for the same to both females and males. The state has also provided a mainstreamed education level to the women who have guaranteed the continuation of their learning process. Recent statistics also show close equality in students number admitted for the elementary education based on gender enrollment. According to the official school enrollment statistics, it is quite evident that girls’ education in Saudi Arabia has differed in several aspects to the boys’ education in other countries.
The out distance in the system is brought about by the unexpectedly higher number of girls to boys in the kingdom as opposed to the reverse that is always the case in the other countries. The recently made decision to integrate girls’ elementary education in the education ministry has as well brought a lot of contribution to policy unification, procedures and regulations without altering these girls’ special nature of education (Int'L, 2015).
The schooling system in Saudi Arabia runs from the pre-primary schools to institutions of higher learning such as tertiary technical colleges and universities. In as much as pre-primary education is not a requirement for pupils joining primary education, it is highly valued by the parents who are concerned about their children a strong basic foundation of education. The expatriate parents consider it a prerequisite since nearly all the international schools administer placement tests for pupils joining their kindergartens and primary levels.
The alternatives for pre-primary school in Saudi include the pre-school and the kindergarten. The pre-school option is majorly offered by the international and private schools. The school care in these institutions includes playgroups or nurseries for children above the age of three. Conversely, kindergarten levels consist of two years. Pupils in their first year of training are called KG1 and at times referred to LKG (Lower KG). Unlike the admission limit that is three years in the pre-schools, the pupils admitted to the kindergarten schools are expected to have attained the age of 4 to be accepted at the LKG and 5 years in the upper KG (Educational system in Saudi Arabia, 2006).
Children admitted for their first year in the kindergarten are expected to be 3years and nine months old and above. Upon the admission to both pre-school and lower kindergarten, the students are supposed to be toilet or potty trained. The pupils at this first level of learning are provided with nannies to give them additional needs and care depending on the school’s requirements. Some schools in Saudi Arabia have recently started offering the choice of extension from the normal hours of 8 a.m to 3 p.m to 8 a.m to 5 p.m for the sake of comfort of the working mothers. The program, however, is dependent on the institution and the agreement of the parents with the nursery section.
Other than pre-schooling that may not be considered compulsory in other parts of Saudi Arabia, elementary education is considered compulsory. It is deemed as the foundation for overall education program development. Primary education starts with grade 1 for pupils with the age of 6. The children who have attained the age of 5 years and nine months are also occasionally exempted to join primary schools during admission.
This level of education contains students up to the age of 11 or 12 who upon completing graduates with grade 6. The curriculum that is taught at the primary level includes Art Education, Arabic, History, and Geography, Home Economics especially for Girls, Mathematics, Science, Islamic Studies and Physical Education for Boys. The normal period of study at the primary level is two semesters in a year (Educational system in Saudi Arabia, 2006).
Each semester runs for not less than 15 weeks and additional two weeks for examination of the end of the semester. The pupils from grade one to grade four are often exempted from the end semester examinations even, though; they are given regular evaluation by their various teachers. The daily schedule of elementary school has six classes. The lessons run for 45 minutes during the normal school days. The standard curriculum learned by girls and boys in separate schools. By the time of completion of primary education, students are normally awarded certificates to show that they went through that elementary level. They are always given a living certificate showing that they have satisfactorily completed Shahadat Al Ibtidaa’iyyah Al Madaaris with a General Elementary School Certificate.
Intermediate school is the next level after completing primary education. Students who have cleared at the elementary level are often advised to improve their knowledge by joining intermediate level. It takes an average of 3 years, and the students who are allowed for training at this level should be of age 12 to 15. This level is considered an equivalent of grade 7 to 9 the United States’ system of education. During these three years, the learners are taught religious studies, physical education (for boys), Arabic, English, art education, history, geography, mathematics and home economics, especially for girls.
The academic calendar of the intermediate level is also the same as that of primary education with two semesters in a year running for 17 weeks each including the last two weeks of examination. At this level of education, English is a core subject requirement and remains to be compulsory even at the intermediate level. Passing the examination is a must and having satisfactorily completed this level of education, the students are given a certificate of intermediate schooling. The certificate obtained at this level is very important since it is a prerequisite when joining secondary level.
The education system curricula in Saudi Arabia have changed over time. The system process has undergone the constant procedure of improvement and change to respond to the continuously changing social, economic and cultural environments in the Saudi kingdom as well as international technological developments. The national committee founded by the education ministry is devoted to the development of curriculum as well as its review and advice to the department of educational development.
The committees are responsible for studying the subjects that are taught in all the levels of education program such as measurement and testing, audiovisual aids, special education, adult education and the pupil guidance and counseling. The teachers employed to train the students in different levels of education in the Saudi curricula are well trained in the institutions of higher education. They hold moral ethics to the highest degree and deliver the content that is expected of them in a competent way. Upon completion of their higher education learning, they are assessed by the body responsible for their hiring in the ministry of education to ensure that their professionalism is not questioned (Aarts, 2005).
Many innovations have been adopted in curriculum development in the previous several years, for instance, the development of new textbooks for elementary and intermediate schools. Schools have been supplied with services such as audio-visual media, including computers, television monitors, slide and overhead projectors and school projecting instruments that have been included in the teaching of science, mathematics, and geography. Language laboratories have also been raised up to counter the study of languages including foreign and national languages (Culture, 2010). The school libraries have also been changed into comprehensive education centers for resources stocked with reference work, books, maps, newspapers, posters, and films.
Textbooks are periodically updated to show the developments in various disciplines. Textbook materials in subjects such as mathematics, social studies, and science, however, are regularly re-evaluated to ascertain their effectiveness. Students who take the same curricula use similar textbooks despite their gender of being male or female. Both the primary private and public schools are supposed to use the same textbook with the same curricula. The similarity of the books used in learning is emphasized in the elementary schools in Saudi since the testing and evaluation while the issue of certificates is based on the same curriculum.
The government of the kingdom has the initiative of providing textbooks freely to all schools. The private schools in Saudi Arabia occasionally make use of supplementary textbooks to boost their learning programs to enhance the understanding of the additional subjects that are not catered for in the public schools such as French or English as a foreign language (Aarts, 2005).
For the past three decades, the national development plans of the Saudi Arabia had a massive program that aimed at improving the education physical facilities system. It included the furnishing and construction of new schools as well as upgrading the prior existing schools. Most schools in the current kingdom of Saudi are furnished with appropriate equipment’s and supplies and properly surrounded with science laboratories.
Audiovisual media are fully provided for in the Saudi curriculum, and all the elementary schools are they private or public are provided with full equipment compliment. Schools above the elementary level, however, can produce their individual media materials, for instance, educational videos that can be broadcast through in-house closed circuits system of television. Many schools have digitally developed and are having photographic equipment with properly set laboratories for photo processing.
The current Saudi Arabia government provides all its schools with computers and tabs. The electronic gadgets meant for learning are introduced to the beginners upon their entry to elementary school. Computer programs teachers are professionally trained to guide students in all the grades to ensure that all of them are on par with each other in the learning processes. The role of training the juniors to be well equipped with computer packages can however be extended to the parents and guardians of these students since they spend much of their time together with the children at elementary level of education. Software in Arabic is wide and therefore, specific programs have to be applied in the teaching of mathematics, Islamic studies, reading, Arabic languages and social studies (Aarts, 2005).
References
Zuhur, S. (2011). Saudi Arabia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.
Bowen, W. H. (2015). The history of Saudi Arabia.
Int'L, B. P. U. (2015). Saudi arabia energy policy, laws and regulations handbook: Strategic information and basic laws. S.l.: Intl Business Pubns Usa.
CultureGrams (Firm). (2010). CultureGrams. Provo, Utah: CultureGrams
Aarts, P. (2005). Saudi Arabia in the balance: Political economy, society, foreign affairs. Washington Square, NY: New York Univ. Press.
Educational system in Saudi Arabia. (2006). Retrieved from http://www.sacm.org/Publications/58285_Edu_complete.pdf
World data on education. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/WDE/2010/pdf-versions/Saudi_Arabia.pdf
