Saudi officials often like to boast about the number of Saudi students abroad, especially in the United States. Mohammed al-Eisa, the Saudi cultural attaché in Washington DC, recently told Asharq al-Awsat that the number of Saudi students going to US schools has reached 66,000 during the last year. However, Saudi writer Mahmoud Sabbagh has raised some questions about the real number of Saudi students in the US. Sabbagh points to stats released by the Institute of International Education (IIE), which said that the number of Saudi students going to American schools in the academic year 2011/2012 is only 34,139 students. According to IIE, a DC-based non-profit organization, this number represents a 50 percent increase from the previous year, but this is still much smaller than the numbers often repeated by Saudi higher education officials. China, India and South Korea are the top three countries sending students to the US. Saudi Arabia is fourth.
King Abdullah Scholarship Program to Be Extended→
/Saudi Arabia will extend its major study abroad program for another five years, the state news agency reported today. Minister of Higher Education Khaled al-Angary told the agency that the decision to extend King Abdullah Scholarship Program “is the embodiment of Saudi leadership support for the higher education.” More than 47,000 Saudi students have graduated from foreign universities since the program was launched in 2005.
Gender Segregation at Colleges Limits Women’s Access to the Job Market→
/Writing in Arab News, columnist Mohammed al-Saif implicitly calls on the government to end gender segregation in higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia:
It is no secret that gender segregation in education has been the status quo in Saudi Arabia since public education for females was officially introduced in the early 1960’s. Interestingly, the Kingdom is the only Muslim country in the world that still does not have coed schooling in all education levels, from primary school to university.
However, it could become the logically subsequent phase to the current mixed-gender working environment, and this could represent a new social challenge to its mostly conservative society.
Although recent statistics show that women constitute 58 percent of higher education graduates in Saudi Arabia, their educational background still does not guarantee them a job after graduation.
The current education structure limits women’s access to the labor market through restrictions on certain areas of study and access to a wider scope of jobs, such as engineering, media, and architecture. In addition to that, it is costing the country double the budget as it is paying twice for education facilities Kingdomwide.
It is worth noting, however, that the gender mixing at the workplace is still facing a staunch resistance by the conservatives who recently forced the Labor Ministry to erect walls to segregate men from women at retail stores.
Small Steps: Girls Schools in EP Begin Offering Sports Classes
/Introducing physical education to public girls schools has been a challenge for the government, but it seems that they have finally managed to make some progress. Al-Hayat daily reported Wednesday that the General Administration of Education in the Eastern Province has launched the first ever recreational club for girls in the region as part of King Abdullah Project for Development of Education.
According to the newspaper, the club that was opened at the 22nd Girls’ Secondary Schools in Dammam provides recreational and sports programs for weight loss and a basketball court. Club’s manager Mariam al-Shammari told the paper they only have capacity of 400 students, admitting that it is “small,” but she said “they are looking forward to achieve positive outcomes.”
Al-Watan reported one day earlier that 24 out of 25 public girls schools in the Eastern Province have refused to offer physical education classes to their students, despite taking part at the development program. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said the only reason behind the refusal is the fear that parents would object to the step. The newspaper added that senior officials at the General Administration of Education in the Eastern Province are also against the idea of introducing PE classes at girls schools for the same reason.
The only school which took the step was the 2nd Girls’ Secondary School in Khobar. Ahlam al-Amer, headmistress of the school, told al-Watan that both parents and senior officials were unhappy when the school began allowing students to play basketball last year. But eventually everyone accepted the idea that they opposed at first, she said, and now they offer to present their experience at other schools.
When the Saudi Ministry of Education said few years ago that they intend to introduce sports to public girls schools, conservative clerics responded with fatwas denouncing the plans. Speaking to a local TV channel, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Alsheikh declared, “women should be housewives,” and “there is no need for them to engage in sports.” A preacher named Mohammed al-Habdan published a list of fourteen “evils” that would result from introducing sports to girls schools, including taking the veil off and the “masculinization” of women.
However, the government has been quietly building gyms into new schools. Princess Norah University, the all-women school which opened its doors for students last fall, has a large sports and recreation center. “It’s high time to look into the matter of introducing sports at girls schools seriously." Princess Adela bint Abdullah, the King’s daughter, told al-Riyadh in 2009. The Princess does not work in the government but she is married to the Minister of Education. A champion of women’s rights, she is said to play an influential role on education policy in the country.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia sent two female athletes to the Olympic Games London for the first time ever. The decision, announced only few weeks before the Olympics started, came after long negotiations between the government and the International Olympic Committee, and under high pressure from human rights groups who urged the IOC to ban Saudi Arabia from the Games if they don’t send women.
But experts and observers said that move was little more than a token.
“This is not a step forward for women’s rights,” activist Aziza al-Yousef told the New York Times last summer. “We’ve been asking for girls to play sports in school for years; here they give Saudi women a spot in the Olympics, but not the right to earn a place on the team. This doesn’t add anything, and it won’t change anything.”
Fully Married to the Education System→
/This is awkward, but it is the most shared story among Saudi Twitter users today: a Saudi man has married a high school student, a teacher and a principle. All the three belong to the same school. He also has a fourth wife who works as an educational supervisor, and her work includes overseeing the school where her husband’s three other wives work. The bizarre story was published in Okaz today. The paper did not name the man, but it said he is in his fifties and lives in the southern region of Jizan.
My favorite tweets commenting on the story come courtesy of Ali Sheneamer, a man originally from Jizan, who described the polygamist as being “in bed with the ministry!” Sheneamer added: “Stop him from penetrating our education system!” But someone pointed out that when it comes to marriage in the sector, quality is far more important than quantity. The example he cited is the Education Minister who is, of course, married to the King’s daughter.
Music is Indispensable Science, Saudi Columnist Says→
/Okaz columnist Khalaf al-Harbi comments on the debate about music at Saudi schools:
I believe the Ministry of Education will make one of the biggest mistakes in its history if it does not introduce such classes in schools. All over the world, schools teach music to students, except in Saudi Arabia. It is difficult to believe that those schools are wrong and we are right.
I know that I will receive an avalanche of criticisms from the majority of people who will read my article because I believe music is an indispensable science for human beings.
But it brings me solace that 99 percent of readers who attack me now have played a major role in making Arabic satellite channels that air music clips popular. Today, the music market in our country is one of the largest in the Middle East, thanks to those readers.