RIYADH: More than 6 million students across Saudi Arabia are expected to return to classrooms on Monday as the new academic year gets underway, including more than 1.6 million in the Riyadh region.

Authorities have stepped up preparations across the Kingdom to ensure a smooth and organized start to the 2026-27 academic year, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The Riyadh General Administration of Education said schools across the region had mobilized human, technical and maintenance resources ahead of students’ return.

The administration said morning assembly during the summer period would begin at 6:15 a.m., followed by the first class at 6:30 a.m.

Winter assembly will begin at 6:45 a.m. with classes starting at 7 a.m., while classes during Ramadan will start at 9 a.m.

The Ministry of Education has also launched a nationwide back-to-school communication campaign aimed at preparing students, families and education personnel for the new academic year.

Young girls attend class at a school in Riyadh. (SPA)

The campaign emphasizes readiness, commitment and participation from the first day of school, while highlighting the role of teachers in creating a positive learning environment and families as key partners in supporting students and maintaining communication with schools.

The ministry said the campaign would use media, digital platforms, social media and partner organizations to reach communities across the Kingdom, while also highlighting schools’ preparations, including upgrades to digital systems and platforms, as well as the development of curricula and educational programs.

Separately, the Ministry of Commerce said it had carried out 2,259 inspection tours of bookstores, stationery shops and other school-supply outlets ahead of the new academic year.

The inspections were aimed at ensuring the availability of school supplies and alternatives, monitoring price stability and compliance with price-display and commercial-discount regulations.

Ahead of school opening, the Ministry of Commerce sent inspectors to bookstores, stationery shops and other school-supply outlets across the kingdom to ensure compliance with regulations. (SPA photo)

At the start of the previous school year, SPA reported that more than 6 million students were enrolled in 32,000 schools across Saudi Arabia, supported by around half a million teachers.

The education system is a central part of the Saudi Vision 2030 reform plan, which seeks to improve educational quality, expand modern teaching practices and better equip students for the Kingdom’s changing economic and social needs.