RIYADH: The Ministry of Education has given its approval for 500 girls' schools and the same number of boys' schools to open as “summer centers”. Al-Hayat Arabic daily reported Deputy Minister of Education Khalid Al-Sabati as saying that the summer centers would be open for use this year. Speaking at an awards ceremony for an international children's drawing and painting competition in Riyadh, Al-Sabati said the Minister of Education Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah had approved the children's drawings program as part of King Abdullah's project for the development of education in the Kingdom. “Drawings for children bear more than one meaning,” Al-Sabati said. “They have a direct relation to skills and talents and conveying ideas, and improving and giving motivation to talents.” He described art as a means of bringing civilizations and cultures together. “Twenty Arab countries and other countries took part in this competition,” Al-Sabati said. The competition, held under royal approval, accepted some 3,000 entries from children aged between six and 18 years.
