Schools in Saudi Arabia
Until recently, there were almost no schools in Saudi Arabia other than Koran schools, in which boys learned to memorize and recite the Koran, generally learning to read at the same time. Emphasis was mostly on rote memorization, not analysis or critical thinking. The first private school was established in 1901, by the prominent Hijazi businessman Mohammed Ali Zainal Alireza, in defiance of the Ottoman Empire?s belief that those in the outlands should not be educated. Alireza established similar, free schools in several cities and, until the 1940s, they remained the only secondary education in the country.
There was not much need for education beyond the most basic levels. Those involved in itinerantt lifestyles needed little beyond basic math skills to handle trade. Similarly in the cities, trade required certain skills; more exacting skills were picked up during apprenticeships.
During the reign of King Saud bin Abdel Aziz (1953-64), the first state-operated secondary schools were opened. Saud also established the first girls? school, an effort expanded by King Faisal and his wife Iffat with the establishment of the Dar Al Hanan in Jeddah in 1956. In 1960, nationwide girls education was established, but in 1963, Faisal had to send the National Guard to the conservative northern city of Buraidah to keep a girls? school open in the face of public protest.
Building the school was the easy part. The hard part was to find teachers. As the first generations of Saudi children were being education, someone had to do the teaching. Wealthy Saudis could hire western teachers. The state schools, however, had to find as many teachers as possible, as cheaply as possible.
The Saudi government has allowed Muslim clerics to control education for many years and it?s modern version is The Ministry of Education, founded during the reign of King Saud and with the current King Fahd as the first Minister and he was responsible for the creation of the education system and curriculum. What went on in the classrooms, though, was largely invisible to the government bureaucracy. The curriculum itself was modeled on traditional education methods, emphasizing memorization at the expense of critical thinking. The texts, heavily influenced by religious authorities, compounded the narrowness of the education. No outside analysis of the Saudi textbooks had been made before 2002, so the content of those books is not really known. Following analyses in 2002, however, the Saudi government concluded that there were problems with the books.
Even with textbooks being rewritten, the question about what goes on in the classroom remains. As is the case in many countries, Saudi parents have tended to let the education system educate their children, not paying attention to what an individual teacher is doing, unless it directly affects the wellness of their children. Since September 11 and the allegations that the Saudi education system was at fault, the system has changed. Many parents are far more interested in what?s going on and have called for reform. The Saudi ministries involved with education have also been paying far more attention to the content of the classroom instruction.
For women, in the other hand, the goal of education as stated in official policy was ideologically tied to religion: “the purpose of educating a girl is to bring her up in a proper Islamic way so as to perform her duty in life, be an ideal and successful housewife and a good mother.” The policy also recognized “women’s right to obtain suitable education on equal footing with men in light of Islamic laws.” In practice, educational options for girls at the precollege level were almost identical to those for boys. One exception was that, at all levels only boys took physical education, and girls took home economics.
The Schools in Saudi Arabia includes kindergarten, elementary, secondary, college,
Technical and health care. Here are lists of schools, colleges and universities in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Lists of schools in Saudi Arabia:
Middle East International School, Riyadh
Taqwa International School, Riyadh
Al Hussan International School Khobar
Bangladesh International School Dammam , Dammam
Bangladesh International School Jeddah
International Indian School Dammam
International Indian School Riyadh
International Indian School Jeddah
Pakistan International School Jeddah
Pakistan International School Riyadh
American International School Riyadh
British International School Riyadh
British International School of Al Khobar
Nour Al Maaref International School, Riyadh
Al Wurood International School, Jeddah
Al Noor International School, Riyadh
Universities:
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran,
King Saud University in Riyadh,
King Faisal University in Dammam and Hofuf,
King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, founded in 1967
Islamic University of Medina,
King Khalid bin Abdul Aziz University in Abha,
Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University in Khobar
Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh,
Umm Al-Qura University in Mecca,
Taibah University in Madina,
University of Ha’il in Ha’il City,
Qasim University in Qasim
Taif University in Taif
Arab Open University in Jeddah and Riyadh
Prince Sultan University in Riyadh
Najran University in Najran,
Jizan University in Jizan,
Al Jawf University in Al Jawf,
Al Bahah University in Al-Bahah,
Al Faisal University in Riyadh,
Al Yamamah University in Riyadh
Girl’s University in Riyadh
Colleges:
Effat College
Al Yamamah College
College of Technology Makkah — (CTM)
Dar Al-Hekma
Future Centre for Ladies
Jeddah College of Technology
Jubail Industrial College
King Fahd Security College
Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences
Prince Sultan College for Tourism & Hotel Sciences
Dammam Technical College in Dammam
Institutes:
Prince Sultan Aviation Academy in Jeddah
Institute of Public Administration in Dammam, Riyadh, Jeddah, and Mecca
The Schools, Colleges and Universities in Saudi Arabia had earned the world?s respect and admiration in their reputation for upgrading their educational systems, and facilities including the strict implementation of higher set of standards in accepting positions for their teaching staff, to compete with the demands for globally competitive graduates.
