Education in Saudi Arabia - Term Paper Example

Education in Saudi Arabia Educational policy in Saudi Arabia is pegged on the general ideologies of Islamic religion which is the dominant religion in the country (Shulman etal, 2011). These principles are derived from the belief that the process of learning and performance of different duties in society should be based on Godly values and the teachings of Islamic religion. It is a belief in Saudi Arabia that educational education should meet the needs of society and achieve the objectives of the nation. This means that fields of study, educational strategies, curricula, systems of education, administrative systems, as well as hardware based on education and other factors in education are focused on achievement of these societal objectives (Sedgwick, 2001). Undoubtedly, Saudi Arabian educational policy was developed and continues to be anchored Islamic teachings (Alquraini, 2010). It is these teachings that guide other tenets of society like the country’s ethics, doctrine, worship, law, and judgment and this is believed to create an integrated system of life. The educational system was the first vital social establishment developed in Saudi Arabia. Established in 1925 The Directorate of Education was considered to be among the fourteen starting points in the development of the education system (Sedgwick, 2001). Significantly, the government came up with the basic instructions and guidelines that are believed to have created the foundations for the educational system in Saudi Arabia. Later, after 28 years of The Directorate of Education’s existence The Ministry of Education was established bringing with it a new period of evaluation for the educational system and King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz was appointed to head this crucial ministry (Alquraini, 2010). He is remembered for contributing immensely in expansion and distribution of educational resources that were available during his period in office. The ministry is credited for the development manifested in the many schools that have opened since its creation. Increase in public schools has not been seen in some parts of Saudi Arabia but it is visible in all parts of the country. This expansion in education is attributed to The Ministry of Education’s brilliant idea of establishing the infamous ‘School Districts’ in all areas across the country (Sedgwick, 2001). The ‘School Districts’ would become crucial in supplementing the functions of the ministry. Together with other countries with membership in the League of Arab States, Saudi Arabia subscribed to the unified system of education in 1958. Alquraini (2010) says that the unified system of education entailed the provision of primary education for the first six years, middle education for a period of three years, and a separate three-year program for secondary education. This revised educational system was based on plans for national development which utilized the basic viewpoint of the successful renovation of Saudi Arabia (Sedgwick, 2001). Two fundamental principles supporting this philosophy included the creation of the required human resources through education and training and developing an all-inclusive economic infrastructure. These principles were highly prioritized in the national development agenda (Shulman etal, 2011). The educational system has several levels which include the pre-primary, primary and the secondary level of education (Alquraini, 2010). These three levels are considered to be the most important in the learning process. In the pre-primary level, learners are prepared for the next level of education which is the primary level also known as the elementary education. It is not compulsory for learners to go through this first level although it is considered to be an important one as the two years that learners spend at this level is seen as an important period in preparing them for the next advanced level. Learners are admitted to this level at an approximate age of four years and they first attend the nursery school before joining the pre-elementary school at an approximate age of five years (Shulman etal, 2011). After the pre-primary level, learners join the next level of education which is the primary level. In Saudi Arabia, this level of education is considered to be very paramount as it forms the basis for educational program development in general. It is expected that at the age of six learners leave the pre-elementary school and therefrom join the elementary school where they are supposed to spend six years and finish when they are aged between twelve and fourteen (Sedgwick, 2001). After finishing primary school, learners are supposed to join the intermediate level of education (corresponding to grades seven through nine in the United States’ educational system). The last level in education is the secondary level and this level lasts for three years and the learners at this level are approximated to be ranging between 15 and 19 years of age. Saudi Arabia Education Policy (2012) indicated several educational purposes for the nursery school and kindergarten. The definition of nursery school, kindergartens and primary school in this policy is based on the gentle decree on treatment of children. Moreover, this policy endeavors to craft a comprehensive early nurturing in which every young person learns socially accepted values (Shulman etal, 2011). Childcare and development of the child’s morals, mental skills, and physical skills in normal conditions are other objectives which this early learning intends to achieve. Family and Islamic teachings and values are core factors in formulation of these objectives. The nursery and kindergarten level guides children’s predispositions founded on religious uniformity. Education in this level is also seen as an important aspect in teaching proper behavior and therefore important in facilitating the absorption of Islamic virtues (Sedgwick, 2001). Being the initial level of education, learners are introduced to the educational environment and are able to shift from basing their behavior on self to adapting social life. Environment is a teacher and educational environment provides the learners with the skills and habits which help them in learning in their later stages of learning. For instance, the kids learn how to relate and express themselves in a group of persons. These are lessons which cannot be learnt while the kids are at home. Creativity is another element born in the nursery school and kindergartens through creative activities among the kids (Alquraini, 2010). These creative activities also boost the happiness of the learners. Lastly, it provides the learners with a safe haven, learners with abnormal behaviors are detected and treated and the problems of childhood are dealt with. Special Education For a long time, special education in Saudi Arabia has not been a priority (Sedgwick, 2001). However, this has changed and this has seen developments such as special education classrooms being included within public schools and also the integration of special education in society. This is a step forward and a desertion from private provision of private education which has been going on since 1950s. There has also been an effort to streamline special education with the advancement in science, technology and human knowledge through the use of current assistive tools in special education (Shulman etal, 2011). The success story in special education in Saudi Arabia cannot be told without a mention of private actors as they have been in action since 1950 with no or less contribution from the government (Sedgwick, 2001). It is from the efforts of these private actors that blind persons had the opportunity to study and master braille and also expand braille programs. Overwhelmed with the need for special education, these private actors were in agreement that they could not make it alone and this made them start convincing other actors like the already established schools to adopt special education in their facilities. This included building of classes for the handicapped and their accommodations. It is until 1957 that government support for special education in Saudi Arabia was visible (Alquraini, 2010). One of this supports was seen when the government gave approval for scientific institutes and colleges to open evening classes which allowed students with blindness to study with those students who were not blind. In the year that followed the Ministry of Education School Gabra opened evening classes for students who were blind as well as those trained in braille (Sedgwick, 2001). This was a very important move which was highly supported. In 1960, support for special education in Saudi Arabia saw a great success when The Ministry of Education formed the first special education institute in the capital Riyadh which was specifically meant to teach blind learners (Shulman etal, 2011). This institute was known as the Noor Institute and was comprised of five primary chapters and three professional classes. The initial number of students at the Noor Institute was 40 who were all blind. These students were the first beneficiaries of a government sponsored specialized program on care and attention for those with disabilities in Saudi Arabia (Sedgwick, 2001). In 1962, a department dealing specifically with special education was formed (Sedgwick, 2001). This department called the Special Education Department was mandated with the responsibility of providing educational, professional, and social services to the blind, deaf, and those learners with intellectual disability. It is this department that championed the establishment of Noor institutes in three cities among them Makkah, Hofuf and Anayzah in 1964 (Alquraini, 2010). An institute combining deaf learners and those with intellectual disability was established in 1972. It is still in 1972 that the special education management changed the name to the Directorate General of Special Education Programs under the Ministerial Decree No. 40/36/4/61. Directorate General of Special Education Although there is an agreement between different actors that there is scarce data on learners with disability, statistics from the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia (2012) shows that there are approximately 141,422 children in pre-school and there are around 27,439 special education learners in Saudi Arabia at all levels of education representing around 1% of the population of all the learners (Shulman etal, 2011). However, lack of adequate information on special education system has incapacitated the efforts of improving this system. Different actors have used this realization to declare the need for more information on the learners with special needs to improve special education system (Sedgwick, 2001). Consequently, the General Administration of Special Education attempted to identify gifted and disabled learners who have special needs from early ages. This led to the development of plans and strategies which are believed to be suitable to the specific needs of the disabled and gifted learners in different categories (Alquraini, 2010). The General Administration of Special Education is also aimed at the development of children’s talents, upbringing, education, and training in order to reach their best possible abilities and harmonize their potential by motivating them in the best possible way (Sedgwick, 2001). With the implementation of strategies that favor the inclusiveness in education and large strides made in qualitative and quantitative developments, the Directorate General of Special Education has gone further in developing plans and programs required in serving individuals with disabilities such as blindness, deafness and intellectual disabilities as well as offering sponsorship and supporting other categories of learners (Sedgwick, 2001). These other categories include learners that are affected by hearing impairments, visual impairments, learning difficulties, multiple disabilities, behavioral and emotional disabilities, autism, communication disorders, and physical impairments. Not that only the learners with different kinds of disabilities are supported by these strategies. For instance, the gifted and talented classes are cared for, given attention, and their cases followed-up as they are very vital in the enhancement of education. A qualitative jump is evident when we look at the increasing number of institutes that support special education programs. The increase has been enormous more so over the last four years. For instance, the number of special institutes and programs increased from 87 in 1996 to 2,577 in 2006 (Shulman etal, 2011). There has been a link between educations of persons with special needs with the improvement in their health (Sedgwick, 2001). One aspect that supports this is reports from the Ministry of Education that have shown progresses in the safety and health of persons with disabilities. This has led to prioritization of special education in Saudi Arabia which has had a spillover effect in other countries in Middle East (Alquraini, 2010). This has also Saudi Arabia as country to be a champion in the use of modern methods of learning in the sphere of special education among these countries. Comparatively, Saudi Arabia has designated enormous resources towards the enhancement of special education and has given more attention to enhancing program services for individuals with disabilities. Saudi Legislation for Individuals with Disabilities Provision Code for Persons with Disabilities: Passed by Saudi government in 2000, this code guarantees that people with different kind of disabilities have access to free and appropriate medical, psychological, social, educational, and rehabilitation services through public agencies (Shulman etal, 2011). It is also a requirement under this legislation that these agencies help qualified people in welfare, habilitation, health, education, training and rehabilitation, employment, complementary services, and other areas (Sedgwick, 2001). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: In 2008, Saudi Arabia signed and authorized the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Sedgwick, 2001). In 2009, the Kingdom 20 organized, in cooperation with the Arab League, a regional symposium to help Arab states put forward a work plan to implement the Arab Decade of Disabled Persons and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Alquraini, 2010). Of great importance in this Convention is that it ensures inclusivity in education for persons with disabilities at all levels of learning. It has been the purpose of these policies to promote equal rights for individuals with disabilities in the provision of free and proper education. However, the coverage of these policies is still wanting with some persons with disability unable to access all or some of the services provided under these legislations (Shulman etal, 2011). With closer to a decade since the inception of these policies, this is unacceptable and this calls for more efforts in implementation. Lack of proper implementation has proportionately affected the outcome which these policies aimed to achieve (Sedgwick, 2001). In fact, they may have developed a paucity of real implementation as a result of a gap between the implementation of services and the context of these legislations (Sedgwick, 2001). It is this deficiency of effective implementation that is presumed to have resulted to the lack of services for special education for some students with disabilities although there has been a visible increase in the number of programs targeting these students. However, in the last decade all has not been lost as there has been an improvement in special education practices and services for learners with disabilities in Saudi Arabia. This progress has helped individuals with disabilities to access education in a bigger way than it has been seen before. Despite the effort to improve services, there is still a need for further improvement (Alquraini, 2010). References Alquraini, T. (2010). Special Education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges, Perspectives, Future Possibilities. International Journal of Special Education. Shulman, C., Flores, H., Iarocci, G., & Burack, J. A. (2011). Intellectual disability: Concepts, definitions, and assessment. Handbook of developmental disorders. Sedgwick, R. (2001). Education in saudi arabia. World education news and reviews. Read More