Saudi Arabia’s prince plans to overhaul the kingdom’s flagging education system to foster values including tolerance and diligence , and better prepare citizens to seek out jobs.
The revamp will cover all levels of education, from infancy to adult learning opportunities, consistent with a summary of the Human Capability Development Program announced by the official Saudi news agency on Wednedsay.
The program aims to raised align the kingdom’s educational outcomes with the labor market’s needs as unemployment hovers at 11.7%. Other objectives include fostering values like moderation, perseverance and a “hard-work culture,” it said.
The overhaul is a component of Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030” strategy to diversify the oil-dependent economy. It’s also a symbol that he wants to melt the kingdom’s reputation as an ultra-conservative Islamic state.
Saudi Arabia’s public schools have long been a bastion of the tenets preached by its religious establishment, like strict gender segregation. Prince Mohammed has been loosening social restrictions and has involved citizens to follow a more “moderate” path of Islam, whilst he cracks down on domestic critics.