History and Political Science of Saudi Arabia - Essay Example

History and Political Science of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia is a kingdom that was established in 1932 and sincethen it has made remarkable progress in the health, economy and technological sectors in the past few years (Rahman & Alhaisoni, p. 1). Ibn Saud was the founder of this country. He founded this country upon the principles and doctrines of Wahabi Islam (Cleveland, 409).The government has over the years made impressive progress in that is increasingly becoming aware of the importance of health, education and equity of human rights amongst its citizens. This paper will shed light on the present situation of the health and education sectors in the country. It will also discuss the population growth rate in the country, position of women in the state, gender divisions and any form of discriminations in terms of race, gender and ethnicity. Overview of Education system in Saudi Arabia Education was inaccessible to many Saudi people till the middle of the 20th century. Female’s General Presidency and the Ministry of Education were established in 1959 and 1953 respectively. They were instrumental in reviving education in the country (Rahman & Alhaisoni 1). Statistics shows that the number of boy’s schools increased from 290 to 2722 from the year 1953 to 1970.Similarly, the number of girls schools increased to 511 during the same time span. Student enrollment in the above schools was 401,000 for boys and 7000 for girls in 1970. In 1963, a committee was formed by the name supreme committee for Educational policy whose mandate was to oversee the whole administration of education in the land. The objective of education in the country is to empower the student to understand Islam, instill skills and knowledge and to mould the character of the student to be moral upright. The ministry of higher Education was setup in the year 1975 and its purposes were to manage universities and other tertiary institutions. Various plans have been executed since then and as a consequence student enrollment in schools has increased significantly. During the years, 2006 and 2007 the country attained another landmark. The number of students at elementary level was 4.08 million. Those at the graduate level were 148.4 thousand. Teachers numbered 233.9 thousand. Currently, the country is running over 25000 schools and 45 universities, 21 of which are state universities while the rest are private universities. Literacy levels have also improved to 78.8%.The increase is the result of ceaseless efforts made by the country through the ministry of Education and its related bodies. English in Saudi Arabia Arabic remains to be the national language among the Saudi people. It is the medium of communication up to the university level with the exception of a few tertiary institutions. English, on the other hand, was taught as a foreign language. Presently English is given due attention unlike in the past. The country has introduced English as a compulsory subjected in its education system. This is as a result of the global demand of the language and its importance in the study of science, medicine, engineering and business disciplines. The language is a compulsory subject for all students in class six to university level. Plans are underway to introduce the language as compulsory from class four (Rahman & Alhaisoni 2). Gender Education System in Saudi Arabia The country has narrowed its efforts to bridge the gender gap in its education system. These efforts were fruitful as literacy levels increased from 79.7% in 2004 to 85% in 2010. Females who have obtained a minimum of secondary education comprise 50.3% of the overall population while men stand at 57.9%.Completion of university education among Saudi women is seen as a great achievement. The land laws, however, promotes gender discrimination in all its universities. For instance, disciplines like science, engineering and medicine are rarely offered at women’s campuses in the country (world health Organization. 7).Saudi guardianship system prevents girls and women from studying without obtaining consent from their male counterparts, fathers, brothers or uncles. This system regards women to be minors and thus women are compelled to submit to the desires of their male guardians (Human Rights Watch. 24). Position of Women in the Society Discrimination of women in Saudi Arabia is rampant. Under the guardianship system, women are considered to be minors. This means that women need control of their own personal lives. Numerous efforts have been taken to shift from this backward system of leadership (Human Rights Watch, p. 6). Women in Saudi Arabia lack the democratically right to vote. Municipalities have refused to register women in the country as voters in the past. This is ironical given that Saudi Arabia is governed by Islamic constitution which in essence guarantees women’s right to vote (Burke, 339). Badawi, a social activist, became the first woman in 2011 to file a lawsuit against the municipalities of Saudi Arabia for failing to register her as a voter. In May 2011, the court made its final judgment on the matter. The judgment stated that Badawi’s action was premature. Fortunately, King Abdullah announced on 25th of September that women would be registered to vote and even run as candidates in the upcoming 2015 municipal elections. The king further appointed 30 women as members of Shura council and guaranteed their representation in the committee henceforth (Human Rights Watch, P. 20). Driving is illegal for women in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi state does not issue driving licenses to women and thus making it illegal for them to drive. The situation in Saudi Arabia is so grave that even those women who possess international driving licenses have been arrested in various occasions. This legislation has made women dependent on men to travel to work and to run basic errands. It has also been expensive for the ladies to hire chauffeurs whenever they need to travel. This ban had existed since 1990 when Saudi women protested by driving after they witnessed USA military women driving in the country. The ladies were reprimanded, and a statement was issued by a conservative body of religious scholars who termed the protests to be part of an international conspiracy whose purpose was to westernize the country. Mufti, chairman of the committee, later issued a ban termed “fatwa” which rendered it inadmissible for women to drive as it would expose them to temptation and eventually erupt into chaos. In 2011, ladies have revived a protest movement named “women2Drive” campaign in an attempt to have the ban lifted. A petition has been filed in court, and a verdict has not yet been delivered on the same (Human Rights Watch. P. 27). Population Growth in Saudi Arabia Population size in Saudi state has grown exponentially from a figure of 9.8 million in 1980 to a rough 27.3 million in 2010.The current total number of males in the kingdom as at 2010 is 15,392,000 million while ladies are 11,886,000 million. The increase is projected to continue to 40.4 million by 2050.Population growth rate of the country stood at 1.63% for the period 1995-2000.A slight increase of 4.75 for years 2000-2005 then ensued and finally a small decline to 1.98% by 2010.It is projected that the growth rate would decrease to 0.5% in the future years 2045-2050(United Nations, p. 1).The people age-sex distribution of the state as at 1950 depicted a wide based pyramid which is characteristic of a young population. In 2010, the pyramid reveals a disproportionate age-sex structure. The change is due to the high immigration levels in the land as foreign labor (United Nations, p. 6).The proportion of youth (age 15-24) in the current population in 2010 is 17.2% while the proportion of the elderly (age 65+) stands at 3.0% (United Nations, p. 8). Inequalities in Saudi Arabia Human Development Index is a summative measure of evaluating long-term progress in three fundamental aspects; longevity of life, access to education and standards of living. Longevity of life is measured by life expectancy rate, access to education by average number of years in schooling and finally standards of living by gross national income. Comparability of HDI values is enabled by using data from primary sources only e.g. World Bank and UNESCO. The HDI value for Saudi Arabia for 2012 was 0.782 which placed the country in the 57th place out of a total of 187 countries. This value surpasses the 0.758 value for high social development groups and exceeds 0.652 values for Arab countries. HDI is also adjusted to measure inequalities in the state. IHDI is the adjusted HDI for this purpose. It unmasks the inequalities in social development distribution. HDI in simple terms may be explained as the potential human development and IHDI is the actual human development. Subtraction of IHDI from HDI gives loss in human development. However, due to insufficient data these values have not been computed for the land (UNDP, p. 4). Another index that is important is the Gender Inequality Index (GII).It calculates gender based inequalities based on the dimensions; economic activity, empowerment and reproductive health. This index shows the loss in development as a result of inequalities between ladies and men’s achievements. In 2012, the state had a GII of 0.682 placing it in 145th place out of 148 countries. Analyzing this result, we establish that only 0.1% of parliamentary seats are held by women in the kingdom yet 50.3% of the ladies have completed secondary education compared to 57.9% of their male colleagues. In the economic sector, women’s support is at 17.7% while men are 74.1% actively involved (UNDP, p. 4). Health Care Overview in Saudi Arabia Health Ministries is the principal provider of health care services in Saudi Arabia. The numbers of hospitals and public health care centers increased by8.9% from 2004.Medical staff in similar, in health institutions, have also been increased (World Health Organization, p. 7).The kingdom is planning to implement a policy that will ensure that management of health care in the state is decentralized. This will ensure quality services are offered at an affordable price to the entire community. Health workers in Saudi Arabia are mainly expatriates. The country has stepped up efforts to reverse this trend by increasing the number of health, nursing and medical schools in the country. Scholarships are also granted to bright students to study abroad and upon completion of studies to serve Saudi Arabia (World Health Organization, p. 11). Cooperative Health Insurance Council was established in 1999 whose task was to meet the health services of a growing community. The main activity of the council is to regulate and manage health insurance services in the country. The insurance scheme was designed in three phases. The first phase began in 2006 which was for non-Saudis and Saudis under the private health care services. Second phase was for non-Saudis and Saudi working in government sectors. The final phase was for other groups such as pilgrims. The strategy’s aim was to reduce the financial burden of providing free health care services to the citizens (World Health Organization, p. 12). Future Trends The young population of Saudi is expected to continue growing in the coming years. Analysts project a 3.5% increase in the work force annually for the next 10 years. The country is making massive investments prepare this generation for the labor market. Education is instrumental in the achievement of this goal thus the government has increased the number of schools in the nation. This move will enable the country to provide its own labor, as opposed to over reliance on expatriates (International Monetary Fund, p. 5). The government is doubling its efforts to improve its education system. It is projected that the state will spend billions of dollars in designing new and appropriate curriculum. English teachers will be recruited in large numbers as a step to train the youth in engineering, medicine and many other technical courses (Rahman & Alhaisoni, p. 3). Women’s active participation and involvement in politics are other future trends in the country. King Abdullah’s announcement that women would participate in the upcoming 2015 municipal elections implies that women will be directly involved in the country’s governance. Ladies have also been guaranteed their representation in the Shura council (Human Rights Watch, p. 1). References Human Rights Watch (2012). (pp 1-6) United Nations (2012).(pp 1-10) World Health Organization (2013).Country co-operation strategy For WHO and Saudi Arabia 2012-2016. (pp 1-28) Rahman& Alhaisoni (2013).Teaching English in Saudi Arabia: Prospects and Challenges.Vol.4 (pp 1-7) UNDP (2013).The Rise Of the South: Human progress in a Diverse World.( pp 1-4) William Cleveland & M. Bunton, A History of the Modern Middle East (4th ed. 2009) C&B (pp 409) Edmund Burke & David Yaghoubian, Struggle and Survival in the Modern Middle East (2nd ed. 2005) B&Y (pp 339) Read More