Prince Faisal bin Abdullah bin Mohammed, Minister of Education, reviewed in his speech here yesterday the march of education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over decades and the focus at the current stage on knowledge-based- economy and how to invest in future generations to achieve the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Addressing Saudi-U.S. Business Opportunities Forum, he noted that this Forum reflects strong partnership and mutual trust between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America, stressing the importance of opening new horizons and opportunities of cooperation between the two countries. He pointed out that the march of the development of education in the Kingdom is considered as a distinguished example in the Middle East and North Africa, indicating that the number of schools in the Kingdom is more than 33,000, in addition to more than 5 million students, representing a third of the Kingdom's population, and nearly 500,000 male and female teachers. The Prince indicated that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Program for Foreign Scholarship is considered as the largest program of foreign scholarships in the history of the Kingdom, pointing out that more than 130,000 students on scholarships have been sent in the framework of this Program for studies at the best universities in the world in different disciplines. In another speech, Saudi Deputy Minister of Education for Boys Affairs, Dr. Khalid Bin Abdullah Al-Sabti, said that the Ministry of Education began a program to establish Electronic Teaching School to increase the effectiveness of teachers in the educational process, noting that work is under way for planning the establishment of Electronic Academy for Professional Development of Teachers.
