Saudi Arabia approves SR80 billion 5-year education plan

JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has approved a five-year plan worth more than SR80 billion ($21.33 billion) to develop Saudi Arabia’s education sector, SPA reported.
The plan includes building 1,500 nurseries, providing training for about 25,000 teachers and establishing educational centers and other related projects, Education Minister Prince Khaled Al-Faisal was cited by SPA as saying.
The SR80 billion is in addition to what is being allocated annually to the education ministry, SPA said.
King Abdullah had launched an overhaul of state schools and universities, part of a raft of reforms designed to ease the influence of religious clerics, build a modern state and diversify the economy away from oil to create more jobs.
Saudi Arabia’s 2014 state budget projects a 4.3 percent rise in spending compared with last year, the slowest rate in a decade, although the ministry’s own budget shows continued to heavy spending on social welfare projects.
The ministry’s budget includes funds to build 465 schools and 11 hospitals and a 3 percent rise in education spending to SR210 billion.
Infrastructure spending is set to jump 25 percent, with money earmarked for new roads and railways as well as upgrades of ports and airports.