Saudi Arabia looks to ‘human capital’ for growth

Improved education standards have a key role to play in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, Prince Faisal bin Abdullah Al-Mashari, chairman of the Education Evaluation Commission, told a major forum in Riyadh.
“This vision pushes Saudi citizens to be the engine of economic, social and cultural development,” he said.
Al-Mashari was speaking at the National Criteria for Public Education Launching forum organized by the Education and Training Evaluation Commission.
“Saudi human capital is the most important factor in the transition from a natural resources-dependent economy to a knowledge economy which depends on the ingenuity and strengths of its people,” he added.
More than 450 experts from the commission, Ministry of Education and Saudi universities are taking part in the forum.
Participants will focus on education curriculum criteria that build career skills as well as establishing Islamic values and national identity.
The forum highlighted the considerable efforts made in developing these standards and the importance of the public education national criteria in setting out clear and measurable objectives in all stages of general education for schools, teachers and students, making them more familiar with the results that they should strive to achieve.