RIYADH – Women teachers will be assigned to teach in as many as 1,460 nursery schools across the Kingdom, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Education. There will be separate classrooms, toilets and equipment, and there will be no mixed classes, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Nada Al-Samail, director general of Early Childhood at the Ministry of Education, said that the number of nursery schools reached 1,460 in the Kingdom's cities and regions. "Out of these, 3,313 classes were allotted for kindergarten with the capacity to accommodate 83,000 children and 3,483 classes will be furnished for first standard of elementary schools and they make up 13.5 percent of the total number of schools. Al-Samail revealed that 72 percent of students from the waiting list were enrolled for the current year, with an increase in enrollment in kindergartens up to 50 percent between the academic years of 1439/1440-1441. Al-Samail said that the ministry has developed an integrated plan for early childhood education in line with the Cabinet's decision and the Royal Decrees and the Kingdom's Vision 2030, which aims to improve the quality of education, in addition to ensuring that every child has access to quality education. She added that the early childhood schools include kindergartens second and third levels, and primary school grades (I, II and III) boys and girls in the primary stage between the age of 4-8 years, stressing that the greatest focus will be on the stages of early education, by providing education that contributes to the advancement of the economy, develop talent and build character, strengthen the role of teachers and raise their qualification. Al-Samail pointed out that the Ministry of Education has made great efforts to complete the initiative within a short span of not exceeding five months, and continued to work day and night during the summer to ready 3,313 classrooms in kindergartens to accommodate 82,825 students, and furnish 3,483 classrooms for primary grades in early childhood schools to accommodate 80,675 students with the beginning of the new academic year. The ministry has taken a number of measures to implement early childhood education, including: reviewing educational policies at this stage, and forming task forces of specialists to build, implement and evaluate early childhood education.
