RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has set out new targets for kindergarten enrollment and improvements to universities as he unveiled a plan to help Saudi citizens “compete with the world”.
The new program will focus on enhancing values, developing fundamental competencies and skills of the future, and knowledge development, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced on Wednesday.
The initiative, part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 project, aims to increase kindergarten enrolment from 23 percent to 90 percent, and have two Saudi universities ranked among the top 100 higher education institutions in the world within the next nine years.
“Due to my confidence in the capabilities of every citizen, this program has been developed to meet the needs and aspirations of all segments of society,” the crown prince said.
The program will include 89 initiatives aimed at achieving 16 strategic objectives of Vision 2030.
The program’s strategy will be built on three pillars: developing a resilient and strong educational base, preparing for the future labor market locally and globally, and providing lifelong learning opportunities.
Prince Mohammed said the program will prepare citizens for “the current and future labor market with capabilities and ambitions that compete with the world.”
Mohamed Ramady, London-based independent analyst, welcomed the announcement, and said: “The launch of this program is long overdue and needed as in the final analysis, it's the quality and capability of societal human capital that differentiates nation's economic progress, and this is installed from the earliest years of education as the program hopes to achieve.”
The reforms announced are needed, however, for the economy to see the effects of these reforms, it will take time. "Reforms are needed to improve the quality of education in order to better prepare Saudi citizens for the workforce. Even if these reforms are successful, it will still be a decade at least before the economic benefits materialise," said James Swanston, MENA economist at London-based Capital Economics.
