Education in Saudi Arabia
Encyclopedia
When Saudi Arabia formally became a nation in 1932
, education was largely limited to instruction for a select few in Islamic schools. Today, public education—from primary education
through high school
—is open and free to every citizen.
The education system in Saudi Arabia, is primarily the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education and the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training. Other authorities such as the Ministry of Defense and Aviation; the Presidency of the National Guard; and the Ministry of the Interior provide their affiliates and children with kindergarten, elementary, intermediate, secondary and adult education as well, following the educational ladder, study plans and curricula formulated by the Ministry of Education. The highest authority that supervises education in Saudi Arabia is the Supreme Committee for Educational Policy, established in 1963.
According to the World Bank database, public spending on education is 6.8 percent of GDP, and public spending on education as a percentage of government expenditure was 27.6 percent in 2004. (World Development Indicator/Edstats) Education spending as a proportion of overall spending tripled from 1970 to 2000 and neither economic growth nor the price of oil had much impact on this trend in Saudi Arabia.
The Ministry of Education developed "The Ministry of Education Ten – Year Plan 1425–1435 (2004–2014)", which set the following goals for that ten year period:
According to government data, 100,714 children (51,364 male and 49,350 female) are in pre-primary education in 2007. According to gross enrollment ratio for boys is 11.1 percent and gross enrollment ratio for girls is 10.4 percent, and gross enrollment ratio for total is 10.8 percent in 2007.
According to government data, 2,442,482 students (1,255,117 male and 1,187,365 female) are in primary education in 2007 and the number of teachers totals 217,555 (107,227 male and 110,328 female) in 2007. According to UNESCO, gross enrollment ratio for boys is 99.9 percent, gross enrollment ratio for girls is 96.3 percent, and gross enrollment ratio for total is 98.1 percent in 2007.
According to government data, 1,144,548 students (609,300 male and 535,248 female) are in intermediate education in 2007 and the number of teachers totals 108,065 (54,034 male and 54,031 female) in 2007. According to gross enrollment the total rate is 95.9 percent in 2007.
According to government data, 1,013,074 students (541,849 male and 471,225 female) are in secondary education in 2007 and the number of teachers totals 87,823 (41,108 male and 46,715 female) in 2007.
According to gross enrollment the total rate is 91.8 percent in 2007.
in 1957 is a starting point of the modern higher education system in Saudi Arabia. This was also the first university in all the Arab states of the Persian Gulf
.
There are 24 government universities in Saudi Arabia, remarkably established in a short span of time. Among them, three universities, University of Taibba, University of Qasssim and University Taif were established under the Seventh Development Plan. The universities consists of colleges and departments that offer diplomas, and bachelor, master and Ph.D. degrees in various scientific and humanities specializations, and they provide community services as well. Some colleges and departments also provided distance learning. In higher education in Saudi Arabia, there also exist private colleges, community colleges affiliated to universities, and girls colleges, in addition to government agencies and institutions that provide specialist university level education.
According to the World Bank report, more than 70 percent of the students in Saudi Arabia are in the fields of humanities and social sciences like Djibouti, Egypt, Morocco, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and West Bank and Gaza in the region. This ratio is higher than the averages of East Asia and Latin America.
According to government data, a total of 636,245 (268,080 male and 368,165 female) students were enrolled in higher education in 2006. Among them, 528,146 students (187,489 male and 340,657 female) were in Bachelor programs, 9,768 students (5,551 male and 4,217 female) were in Master programs, and 2,410 students (1,293 male and 1,117 female) were in Ph.D. programs. Another 93,968 students (72,199 male and 21,769 female) were in Intermediate Diploma courses and 1,953 students (1,548 male and 405 female) were in Higher Diploma course. According to the World Bank, in 2006 the gross enrollment rate for females was 36.1 percent, the gross enrollment rate for males was 24.7 percent, and the total gross enrollment rate was 30.2 percent.
In 2005, King Abdullah implemented a government scholarship program to send young Saudi nationals to Western universities for undergraduate and postgraduate studies. The program offers funds for tuition and living expenses for up to four years. An estimated 5,000 Saudi students received government scholarships to study abroad for the 2007/2008 academic year. Students mostly studied at universities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, France and Germany. In the United Kingdom alone, more than 15,000 Saudi students (about 25 percent of that number are women) attend universities. The large number of students also includes Saudis paying their own tuition. The large influx of Saudi students to the United Kingdom prompted the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education in 2010 to close access to the country for further study.
The percentage of women receiving an education has increased since the 1960s. However, women are prevented from taking some subjects such as engineering, journalism, and architecture. In Saudi Arabia, women in the labor force are mainly in the education sector. The first group of women graduated from a law program in 2008. Women are not able to practice law, but the government has indicated that they are able to work in courts to assist female clients. This has still not happened.
According to the World Bank report, female students in higher education in Saudi Arabia out number those in Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and West Bank and Gaza.
Because government has much paid attention to girls' education, the number of girls' schools increased faster than boys' schools. According to the World Bank, gross enrollment rate for female is 36.1 percent, gross enrollment rate for male is 24.7 percent, and gross enrollment rate for total was 30.2 percent in 2006. There are thousands of female professors throughout Saudi Arabia, which reflect the high general level of female education in the country.
Around 2009, an expert on girls' education became the first woman minister in Saudi Arabia. Nora bint Abdullah al-Fayez, a US-educated ,former teacher,she was made deputy education minister in charge of a new department for female students. In addition, Saudi Arabia provides female students with one of the world's largest scholarship programs for women. By this program, thousands of women have earned doctorates from Western universities.
The building of colleges and universities for women, which was recently announced by the government, is critically important. Women comprise 58% of Saudi Arabia's college students but only 14% of its labor force, much lower than in neighboring Islamic countries. 85% of employed Saudi women work in education, 6% in public health, and 95% in the public sector. Princess Nora bint Abdul Rahman University
(PNU) is the first women's university in Saudi Arabia and largest women-only university in the world, composed of 32 campuses across the Riyadh
region.
According to UNESCO
, in 2007, 48.9 percent of children enroll in pre-primary schools, 8.2 percent of children enroll in primary school. As for the intermediate education, 6.4 percent of students enrolled in general programs are in private schools and 70.3 percent of students enrolled in technical and vocational programs are in private schools. As for the secondary education, 13.4 percent of students enrolled in general programs are in private schools and 61.6 percent of students enrolled in technical and vocational programs are in private schools. According to the World Bank, in 2004, 7.4 percent of students in tertiary education enrolled in private schools.
According to the World Bank, there is gender disparity in literacy rate. In 2007, 85.0 percent of adult (people ages 15 and above) are literate and 98.1 percent of youth (people ages 15 – 24) are literate, 89.1 percent of male adults are literate and 79.4 percent of female adults are literate. As for youth literacy rate (people ages 15 – 24), 97.0 percent is literate, 98.1 percent of male youths are literate, and 95.9 percent of female youths are literate.
One of the World Bank reports suggested the relatively high adult literacy rate of Saudi Arabia, considering the continued low level of primary enrollment, derived from the successful use of religious organizations, particularly local mosques and local religious institutions such as Koranic schools for the provision of ancillary educational services, which is a trend of particular note in the MENA region.
The study of Islam dominates the Saudi educational system. In particular, the memorization by rote of large parts of the Qu'ran, its interpretation and understanding (Tafsir) and the application of Islamic tradition to everyday life is at the core of the curriculum. Religion taught in this manner is also a compulsory subject for all University students. As a consequence, Saudi youth "generally lacks the education and technical skills the private sector needs". Indeed, such control has stifled critical thought, and as a result, the education system does not necessarily foster innovation and creativity; both of which are essential to development.
A further criticism of the religious focus of the Saudi education system is the nature of the Wahhabi-controlled curriculum. The Islamic aspect of the Saudi national curriculum is examined in a 2006 report by Freedom House
which concluded that "the Saudi public school religious curriculum continues to propagate an ideology of hate toward the "unbeliever," that is, Christians, Jews, Shiites, Sufis, Sunni Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine, Hindus, atheists and others" The Saudi religious studies curriculum is taught outside the Kingdom in madrasah
throughout the world. Critics have described the education system as 'medieval' and that its primary goal 'is to maintain the rule of absolute monarchy by casting it as the ordained protector of the faith, and that Islam is at war with other faiths and cultures'.
The consequence of this approach is considered by many, including, it appears, the Saudi government, to have encouraged Islamist terrorism. To tackle the twin problems of encouraging extremism and the inadequacy of the country's university education for a modern economy, the government is aiming to slowly modernise the education system through the 'Tatweer' reform program. The Tatweer program is reported to have a budget of approximately US$2 billion and focuses on moving teaching away from the traditional Saudi methods of memorization and rote learning towards encouraging students to analyze and problem-solve as well as creating a more secular and vocationally-based education system.
History of Saudi Arabia
The modern state of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 with the union of the kingdoms of the Hejaz and Nejd. Although the territory within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's boundaries is largely arid desert or rocky infertile terrain – home for much of its history to tribal nomadic societies with...
, education was largely limited to instruction for a select few in Islamic schools. Today, public education—from primary education
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
through high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
—is open and free to every citizen.
Education management system
According to the World Bank database, public spending on education is 6.8 percent of GDP, and public spending on education as a percentage of government expenditure was 27.6 percent in 2004. (World Development Indicator/Edstats) Education spending as a proportion of overall spending tripled from 1970 to 2000 and neither economic growth nor the price of oil had much impact on this trend in Saudi Arabia.
The Ministry of Education developed "The Ministry of Education Ten – Year Plan 1425–1435 (2004–2014)", which set the following goals for that ten year period:
- The education of 4-6-year-old children and the consideration of kindergarten as an independent stage as compared with other educational stages in terms of its buildings and syllabi
- Accommodation of all age categories from 6–18 years-old at various stages of education
- Deepening the spirit of loyalty and pride of the country through intellectual awareness of Saudi Arabia's national issues
- Preparing students academically and culturally at the local and international levels to be able to achieve advanced international posts in the fields of mathematics and science for various age categories, taking into account International tests' standards
- Organization of girls' technical education
- Development of an educational system for students with special needs
- Development and growth of educational and administrative training for the Ministry's personnel
- Improvement of internal and external sufficiency for the educational system
- Development of syllabi based on Islamic values leading to the development of male and female students' personality and to their integration in society as well as to the achievement of scientific and thinking skills and life characteristics resulting in self education and lifelong learning
- To improve the quality of male and female teachers and to increase the citizens' rate in the education sector to achieve the full use of Saudi human resources
- To develop the educational structure and to update the school map to meet the expected quantitative and qualitative changes in the next stage
- To develop the infrastructure of information and communication technology and its employment in education and learning
- To develop male and female adults' education and to eradicate illiteracy
- The Ministry's comprehensive administrative development
- Expansion of social participation in education
- To establish integrated systems for accountability
Pre-primary education
In Saudi Arabia, children aged 3–5 years go to kindergarten. However, attendance of kindergartens is not a prerequisite for enrollment of first grade of primary education and kindergartens are not part of the official education ladder. Some private nurseries have been established with technical and financial aid from the government.According to government data, 100,714 children (51,364 male and 49,350 female) are in pre-primary education in 2007. According to gross enrollment ratio for boys is 11.1 percent and gross enrollment ratio for girls is 10.4 percent, and gross enrollment ratio for total is 10.8 percent in 2007.
Primary education
Primary education in Saudi Arabia lasts six years and children at the age of 6 entered the first grade of primary education. All national primary schools are day schools and are not co-educational. In order to move on to intermediate education, children have to pass the examination at the end of Grade 6 of primary school and obtain the Elementary Education Certificate.According to government data, 2,442,482 students (1,255,117 male and 1,187,365 female) are in primary education in 2007 and the number of teachers totals 217,555 (107,227 male and 110,328 female) in 2007. According to UNESCO, gross enrollment ratio for boys is 99.9 percent, gross enrollment ratio for girls is 96.3 percent, and gross enrollment ratio for total is 98.1 percent in 2007.
Intermediate education
Intermediate education in Saudi Arabia lasts three years.According to government data, 1,144,548 students (609,300 male and 535,248 female) are in intermediate education in 2007 and the number of teachers totals 108,065 (54,034 male and 54,031 female) in 2007. According to gross enrollment the total rate is 95.9 percent in 2007.
Secondary education
Secondary education in Saudi Arabia lasts three years and this is the final stage of general education. After the intermediate education, students have the opportunity for both general and specialized secondary education. Technical secondary institute which provide technical and vocational education and training programs lasts three years in the fields of industry, commerce and agriculture.According to government data, 1,013,074 students (541,849 male and 471,225 female) are in secondary education in 2007 and the number of teachers totals 87,823 (41,108 male and 46,715 female) in 2007.
According to gross enrollment the total rate is 91.8 percent in 2007.
Higher education
Higher education in Saudi Arabia lasts four years in the field of humanities and social sciences and five to six years in the field of medicine, engineering and pharmacy. The establishment of the King Saud UniversityKing Saud University
King Saud University is a public university located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdul Aziz as Riyadh University, as the first university in the kingdom not dedicated to religious subjects. The university was created to meet the shortage of skilled workers in...
in 1957 is a starting point of the modern higher education system in Saudi Arabia. This was also the first university in all the Arab states of the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
.
There are 24 government universities in Saudi Arabia, remarkably established in a short span of time. Among them, three universities, University of Taibba, University of Qasssim and University Taif were established under the Seventh Development Plan. The universities consists of colleges and departments that offer diplomas, and bachelor, master and Ph.D. degrees in various scientific and humanities specializations, and they provide community services as well. Some colleges and departments also provided distance learning. In higher education in Saudi Arabia, there also exist private colleges, community colleges affiliated to universities, and girls colleges, in addition to government agencies and institutions that provide specialist university level education.
According to the World Bank report, more than 70 percent of the students in Saudi Arabia are in the fields of humanities and social sciences like Djibouti, Egypt, Morocco, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and West Bank and Gaza in the region. This ratio is higher than the averages of East Asia and Latin America.
According to government data, a total of 636,245 (268,080 male and 368,165 female) students were enrolled in higher education in 2006. Among them, 528,146 students (187,489 male and 340,657 female) were in Bachelor programs, 9,768 students (5,551 male and 4,217 female) were in Master programs, and 2,410 students (1,293 male and 1,117 female) were in Ph.D. programs. Another 93,968 students (72,199 male and 21,769 female) were in Intermediate Diploma courses and 1,953 students (1,548 male and 405 female) were in Higher Diploma course. According to the World Bank, in 2006 the gross enrollment rate for females was 36.1 percent, the gross enrollment rate for males was 24.7 percent, and the total gross enrollment rate was 30.2 percent.
In 2005, King Abdullah implemented a government scholarship program to send young Saudi nationals to Western universities for undergraduate and postgraduate studies. The program offers funds for tuition and living expenses for up to four years. An estimated 5,000 Saudi students received government scholarships to study abroad for the 2007/2008 academic year. Students mostly studied at universities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, France and Germany. In the United Kingdom alone, more than 15,000 Saudi students (about 25 percent of that number are women) attend universities. The large number of students also includes Saudis paying their own tuition. The large influx of Saudi students to the United Kingdom prompted the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education in 2010 to close access to the country for further study.
Girls' and women's education
The General Administration of Girls' Education was established independently from Ministry of Education in 1960 and was put under the administration of the ministry in 2002.The percentage of women receiving an education has increased since the 1960s. However, women are prevented from taking some subjects such as engineering, journalism, and architecture. In Saudi Arabia, women in the labor force are mainly in the education sector. The first group of women graduated from a law program in 2008. Women are not able to practice law, but the government has indicated that they are able to work in courts to assist female clients. This has still not happened.
According to the World Bank report, female students in higher education in Saudi Arabia out number those in Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and West Bank and Gaza.
Because government has much paid attention to girls' education, the number of girls' schools increased faster than boys' schools. According to the World Bank, gross enrollment rate for female is 36.1 percent, gross enrollment rate for male is 24.7 percent, and gross enrollment rate for total was 30.2 percent in 2006. There are thousands of female professors throughout Saudi Arabia, which reflect the high general level of female education in the country.
Around 2009, an expert on girls' education became the first woman minister in Saudi Arabia. Nora bint Abdullah al-Fayez, a US-educated ,former teacher,she was made deputy education minister in charge of a new department for female students. In addition, Saudi Arabia provides female students with one of the world's largest scholarship programs for women. By this program, thousands of women have earned doctorates from Western universities.
The building of colleges and universities for women, which was recently announced by the government, is critically important. Women comprise 58% of Saudi Arabia's college students but only 14% of its labor force, much lower than in neighboring Islamic countries. 85% of employed Saudi women work in education, 6% in public health, and 95% in the public sector. Princess Nora bint Abdul Rahman University
Princess Nora bint Abdul Rahman University
Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University is the first women's university in Saudi Arabia and largest women-only university in the world, composed of 32 campuses across the Riyadh region and a new library capable of holding 4.5 million volumes. The university was founded as Riyadh University for...
(PNU) is the first women's university in Saudi Arabia and largest women-only university in the world, composed of 32 campuses across the Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
region.
Private education
In Saudi Arabia, private education is to be considered one of the elements supporting governmental education at all education levels. The General Department for Private Education at the Ministry of Education supervises private schools for boys and private schools for girls and government provides private schools with free textbooks and an annual financial aid. Government also appoints and pays for a qualified director in every private school.According to UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, in 2007, 48.9 percent of children enroll in pre-primary schools, 8.2 percent of children enroll in primary school. As for the intermediate education, 6.4 percent of students enrolled in general programs are in private schools and 70.3 percent of students enrolled in technical and vocational programs are in private schools. As for the secondary education, 13.4 percent of students enrolled in general programs are in private schools and 61.6 percent of students enrolled in technical and vocational programs are in private schools. According to the World Bank, in 2004, 7.4 percent of students in tertiary education enrolled in private schools.
Literacy
According to the results of the demographic survey conducted by the Department of Statistics and Information, Ministry of Economy and Planning in 2007 the incidence of illiteracy among the Saudi population is 13.7%. The illiteracy rate stood at 1.4% for the age group 10 to 14 years, while the highest level in the age group between the ages of 65 and more than 509,573 people to the rate of 73.9%. With regard to the spread of illiteracy among Saudi Administrative Regions, as the study showed a large disparity between the regions of the Kingdom, while the figure for both sexes is at its lowest level in the Riyadh region, at 9.9%, the highest levelis found in the Jizan area at 23.5%, and the lowest rate of illiteracy among males is in Riyadh region, as the minimum rate of 5.1% and in Jizan higher rate of 14.8%, while the lowest rate of illiteracy of Saudi women is in the eastern region at 14.7% and the highest rate is in the region of Jizan at 31.6%.According to the World Bank, there is gender disparity in literacy rate. In 2007, 85.0 percent of adult (people ages 15 and above) are literate and 98.1 percent of youth (people ages 15 – 24) are literate, 89.1 percent of male adults are literate and 79.4 percent of female adults are literate. As for youth literacy rate (people ages 15 – 24), 97.0 percent is literate, 98.1 percent of male youths are literate, and 95.9 percent of female youths are literate.
One of the World Bank reports suggested the relatively high adult literacy rate of Saudi Arabia, considering the continued low level of primary enrollment, derived from the successful use of religious organizations, particularly local mosques and local religious institutions such as Koranic schools for the provision of ancillary educational services, which is a trend of particular note in the MENA region.
King Abdullah Project for General Education Development
The King Abdullah Project for General Education Development is a SR9 billion project and it will be implemented over the next six years to guarantee the availability of a highly skilled and motivated work force in the future. A number of schools in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam have been selected for the implementation of this project. Crown Prince Sultan will head a ministerial committee to supervise the project, which will begin with creating a high-tech classroom environment in Saudi Arabia in six years. More than 400,000 teachers will be trained to handle classes in the high-tech style. In addition, this project will emphasize on extracurricular activities for the purpose of developing intellectual, creative and communicative skills of students.Criticism of the Saudi Education System and Reform
The Saudi education system is subject to extensive criticism: "The country needs educated young Saudis with marketable skills and a capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship. That's not generally what Saudi Arabia's educational system delivers, steeped as it is in rote learning and religious instruction."The study of Islam dominates the Saudi educational system. In particular, the memorization by rote of large parts of the Qu'ran, its interpretation and understanding (Tafsir) and the application of Islamic tradition to everyday life is at the core of the curriculum. Religion taught in this manner is also a compulsory subject for all University students. As a consequence, Saudi youth "generally lacks the education and technical skills the private sector needs". Indeed, such control has stifled critical thought, and as a result, the education system does not necessarily foster innovation and creativity; both of which are essential to development.
A further criticism of the religious focus of the Saudi education system is the nature of the Wahhabi-controlled curriculum. The Islamic aspect of the Saudi national curriculum is examined in a 2006 report by Freedom House
Freedom House
Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
which concluded that "the Saudi public school religious curriculum continues to propagate an ideology of hate toward the "unbeliever," that is, Christians, Jews, Shiites, Sufis, Sunni Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine, Hindus, atheists and others" The Saudi religious studies curriculum is taught outside the Kingdom in madrasah
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
throughout the world. Critics have described the education system as 'medieval' and that its primary goal 'is to maintain the rule of absolute monarchy by casting it as the ordained protector of the faith, and that Islam is at war with other faiths and cultures'.
The consequence of this approach is considered by many, including, it appears, the Saudi government, to have encouraged Islamist terrorism. To tackle the twin problems of encouraging extremism and the inadequacy of the country's university education for a modern economy, the government is aiming to slowly modernise the education system through the 'Tatweer' reform program. The Tatweer program is reported to have a budget of approximately US$2 billion and focuses on moving teaching away from the traditional Saudi methods of memorization and rote learning towards encouraging students to analyze and problem-solve as well as creating a more secular and vocationally-based education system.
See also
- List of universities and colleges in Saudi Arabia
- Najd National SchoolsNajd National SchoolsNajd National Schools is one of the main educational institutions located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is in the northern part of the capital, Riyadh and is built in a very prominent part of the city; between King Fahd Street and Olayya Street which are one of the most used streets in Riyadh. The...