Okaz Education is every citizen's right and it perhaps comes next in importance only to healthcare in services rendered by the government to the public. The Kingdom has changed its education ministers several times in the recent past with the objective of raising the quality of education. Despite the changes, we do not see any major improvement in the ministry's performance. The ministers have been focusing on issues that are secondary in nature. Some of the decisions they had made, such as the suspension of classes when it rained, were totally unnecessary. The suspension of classes in emergency situations is not a basic issue, but is an exceptional one. Even making changes in the curriculum is not a fundamental matter, compared to a minister's role in bringing about positive and effective changes to boost education standards. Mostly, the changes were cosmetic and announced to appease some interest groups. We don't think that the new minister is enthusiastic about initiating drastic changes, beginning from the construction of suitable school buildings, in place of temporary or rented buildings, to provide students and teachers with an ideal environment for learning and teaching. These buildings and other academic facilities should include workshops, research laboratories, personal computers, sports stadiums, clean toilets and other basic amenities. A model school environment will definitely entice students who will go to school enthusiastically with an open mind. They would not like the suspension of classes even for a day. Once the basic needs are met, it would automatically bring about dramatic changes in the quality of education. We have not seen the new minister showing any interest to enhance school security despite the increasing cases of bullying among students, the main reason for violence in schools. Fighting between students has increased while there have been cases of students beating up their teachers. In some cases, students used weapons, including firearms, on school premises. Strangely, the minister focuses on secondary issues, attaching them great importance. This had become a norm for all education ministers in the past and it is at the expense of education standards. On the other hand, if they had focused on the basic issues they could have addressed the secondary ones with much ease and less expense.
