Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, Minister of Education, hands over a souvenir to Mohamed Yousuf Naghi of Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Group, main sponsors of the First International Conference for School Transportation in Riyadh, Sunday. — SG photo by Maher Abbas Maher Abbas Saudi Gazette
RIYADH — The Ministry of Education is aiming at reducing dependence on private transport for students and encouraging the society to make use of public transport, Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, Minister of Education, said here Sunday. The minister was speaking at the inauguration of the First International Conference for School Transportation at the Riyadh International Center for Conferences. The minister opened the three-day conference on behalf of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The conference concludes Tuesday. Prince Faisal said deliberations at the conference would help achieve King Abdullah's objectives as well as the aspirations of the citizens to develop and support the school transport sector in the Kingdom through an exchange of local and international experience. He said the conference would enable local school transport contractors to learn from successful international experiences as well as attract and encourage businesspeople to invest in the sector. Prince Faisal said his ministry was adhering to the Cabinet directive to expand school transport to help the Kingdom achieve its public transport aims. He said this approach has led to the formation of Educational Transport Services Development Company, a government agency owned by the state-owned Education Development Holding Company. The company will be responsible for school transport and supervise school transport services for male and female students, female teachers, kindergartens and people with special needs. Meanwhile, Nora Al-Fayez, Deputy Education Minister for Women's Education, said the conference will discuss the concepts and practices of transport. She stressed the importance of developing the school transport sector. Al-Fayez said the conference is the first of its kind in the Kingdom and has come at a time when the Kingdom was striving to develop its public transport system. She said it is the right of every male and female student to have access to school transport. A documentary on school transportation in the Kingdom was also shown at the conference. The minister honored Mohamed Yousuf Naghi & Brothers Group, the main sponsors of the conference and its accompanying exhibition. Mohamed Yousuf Naghi told Saudi Gazette that he was happy his group was sponsoring the conference. He said the Hafil Company, of which he is the chairman, has started training young Saudis to start their own small and medium projects.
Spending on school transportation expansion in Saudi Arabia is expected to reach SR4 billion over the next five years.
