Okaz/Saudi Gazette RIYADH — Several Shoura (Consultative) Council members have called on the Ministry of Education to increase the proportion of girls among the students sent abroad under the King's Foreign Scholarship Program. The members include Dr. Alia Al-Dahlawi, Dr. Faisal Al-Fadil and Dr. Nora Al-Musaed. According to sources, their demand came after going through a report of the Ministry of Education about the number of students enrolled in the foreign scholarship program. The report showed that the number of women did not exceed 29.93 percent compared to male students, and that indicates an imbalance with regard to giving equal opportunities to both the genders. According to the report, this low rate comes despite the fact that female students constitute the highest percentage in higher education. The survey of education and training conducted by the General Authority for Statistics in 2017 showed that the number of female students in higher education was 107 when compared to 100 males. The sources pointed out that education is the main axis that underpins the empowerment of women according to Vision 2030. In the vision, it was spelled out that education also aims to develop women's talents, invest their energies and enable them to get the right opportunities in the labor market, by promoting an educational environment for women that meets the demands of the evolving labor market. Employment has become a necessity of life for women, especially in light of the social changes through the promotion of an educational environment for women compatible with the requirements of the labor market. Giving them access to modern educational realms, keeping pace with the accelerated technological development, through foreign scholarship program, can do much to empower women and thus realizing development of society as a whole, especially in social and economic fields.
