MADINAH — Emir of Madinah Prince Faisal bin Salman, who is also chairman of the Madinah Region Development Authority, inaugurated 35 new educational projects costing a total of half a billion riyals. The launching ceremony was held in the presence of Minister of Education Yousef Al-Benyan at the Early Childhood Center of the Laila Al-Ghafariyya School in the holy city. The projects are being implemented within the "Taibah without rented buildings" initiative in partnership with the private sector. This will contribute to reducing the percentage of rented buildings to eight percent by the middle of the current academic year, while the initiative aims to eliminate rented school buildings in all of Madinah and reach zero percent by the end of 2024, followed by the governorates and suburbs by the end of the year 2027. During the launching ceremony, the emir was briefed on the services of educational projects and schools that were inaugurated with a total of 45 new schools, including 1,039 classrooms serving more than 31,170 male and female students. With these new school projects, the percentage of schools in the model government buildings in Madinah has risen to 92. Speaking on the occasion, Prince Faisal bin Salman thanked and appreciated Minister of Education Yousef Al-Benyan and Director of Education in the Madinah Region Nasser Al-Abdulkarim for their efforts in completing educational projects in all the region to achieve all the goals of the "Taiba without rented buildings" initiative. The emir also inspected a number of classrooms and study halls, and watched an exhibition of new projects and listened to an explanation of future projects. This is in addition to the school construction project with the operating system of the construction, maintenance and conversion path through the public-private partnership (PPP) program and completion rates of new educational projects. For his part, Minister of Education Al-Benyan said that the "Taibah without rented buildings" initiative fully achieves its goals, and is progressing at a successful rate. "The initiative enjoys unlimited care and support from the generous leadership and the follow-up of the emir of the Madinah region, who gives it all attention. Education in the Kingdom enjoys generous support from the leadership in its various fields," he pointed out. It is noteworthy that the "Taibah without rented buildings" initiative comes in partnership between the Ministry of Education and the Tatweer Building Company in Madinah. "This aims to improve the school environment, by dispensing with rented school buildings and replacing them with government educational buildings and projects. This also aims to invest in educational buildings in a way that achieves quality education by providing 60 government school projects that include 1,668 classrooms with a capacity to accommodate up to 50,000 male and female students, and preparing appropriate sites for them to seek knowledge and open many knowledge horizons," he said.
