Rented school buildings reduced from 41% to 22%

JEDDAH: More than five million Saudi students will return to schools, colleges and universities tomorrow when public educational institutions in the Kingdom reopen following a long summer vacation.
Educational authorities in the Kingdom have stepped preparations for the new academic year, completing school building projects and supplying an adequate number of textbooks required by schools in different parts of the country. Education Minister Prince Faisal bin Abdullah has reaffirmed his ministry’s determination to cut down the number of rented school buildings. “We have already brought down the number of rented buildings from 41 to 22 percent,” he said.
Addressing ministry officials and education directors in various parts of the Kingdom through video conferencing, Prince Faisal said the ministry would receive a total of 950 new school buildings by the end of this year. “We have already received 600 buildings since the beginning of this Hijrah year,” he added. He said more than 150,000 school teachers have got permanent status this year on the basis of a royal decree.
Hamad bin Muhammad Al-Asheikh, deputy minister for boys’ education, said the ministry had carried out necessary maintenance work during the summer vacation and renovated numerous schools, after removing obstacles facing contractors.
Abdullah Al-Thaqafi, director of education in Jeddah, said: “We have completed preparations to receive about 600,000 students in 1,700 schools across the city.” He said educational officers have been given the authority to solve all problems facing headmasters, parents, students and teachers to ensure a smooth launch of the new academic year.
Sonia Malki, director of the school health department, has said her department has taken measures to ensure the cleanliness of school surroundings and preparedness of school health sections.
Speaking about the negative impact of the holidays on the performance of students, Yahya Al-Attawi, an education official in Tabuk, said, “The holidays in general and long vacations in particular have an adverse impact on students. It will take students some time to adjust their biological clocks and wake up early. Long vacations also mean students forget a lot of the stuff they previously learned,” he pointed out.
Shaher Al-Jeddawi, program director at a public school in Jeddah, said introducing English language courses in the fourth grade is a major step toward improving the level of education in general. “The project this year applies to 4,200 schools out of the Kingdom’s 33,000 existing schools,” he said, adding that preparations began two years ago when English classes were introduced in the fifth grade.
Next year, English will be introduced in all schools, Al-Jeddawi said. Primary schools will admit 300,000 students in Class 1 this year.
He added that the “Schools of the Future” initiative would also begin this year with the opening of 300 model schools throughout the Kingdom. Educators in these schools will place emphasis on using laboratories and modern teaching methods.
Fahd Al-Hammad, supervisor of the agency for school buildings, said the ministry was making intense efforts to complete 871 new school buildings. This is in addition to 2,340 school projects under construction at a total cost of SR 21 billion, said Al-Hammad.
Saudi Arabia gives top priority to education and training of its citizens and spends billions of riyals for the purpose every year. The Kingdom's 2011 budget allocated 46 percent of total spending to education and training, health and social development and infrastructure, with 25.9 percent of the entire budget designated for education and training alone.
During 2011, the government appropriated $ 40 billion (SR 150 billion) to education and training.
Investment in human capital has become a top priority for the government, as spending on education has more than tripled since 2000.
The official spokesman of the Ministry of Education Muhammad Al-Dakhaini recorded the number of students for the year 2012-2013 at 117,653 children in kindergartens, 2,513,815 in primarily schools, 1,198,414 students in intermediate schools and 1,125,602 students in the secondary level, besides 27,138 in special schools and the 82,797 for adult education programs. The schools in the Kingdom employ 231,438 men teachers and 251,270 women teachers in 17,695 boys’ schools and 15,291 teachers in girls’ schools out of the total of 32,986 schools.