Rashid Al-Fouzan Al-Riyadh THE level of education in the Kingdom has either regressed or is on its way. This is not just a personal opinion but a documented fact. Al-Riyadh newspaper published on Aug. 22 the results of the evaluation conducted by the Program for the International Student Assessment (PISA). The program is a worldwide study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The assessment covered 15-year-old students in many member and non-member countries. According to the assessment, the United Arab Emirates was the top Arab country occupying the 42nd rank on the list. Jordan came 55 while Tunisia was 56 and Qatar 61. Saudi Arabia was the only Arab country which came before the last country on the list, especially in the assessment for mathematics and sciences. The budget of the Ministry of Education is about SR204 billion, which represented two thirds of the general budget of the Kingdom in one of the years. The ministry, however, claims that salaries consume about 80 percent of this huge budget. This means that there are no development projects and not enough investment in the development of teachers or syllabuses. The PISA assessment indicates that the educational level of our male and female students is frighteningly advancing to the rear. Our students get excellent ratings in the secondary school examinations but fail to pass the assessment tests. What does this mean? It means that there is a fault somewhere. There is a gap between what the students learn and what they are examined in. In fact, the fault is in the very standard of the education itself, which is very low. Our position as the last but one Arab country in the PISA rankings is downright shameful. We lack quality both in the teachers and the school environment. We need to focus on such subjects such as mathematics, science and technology and languages. Our students should not concentrate on rote memorizing the subjects like parrots. They should be encouraged to think freely, analyze deeply and innovate. We should take good care of the gifted students from the very first grades. We should give more attention to the training and development of male and female teachers. The government is spending billions of riyals on education but the end product is pitifully weak. We are squandering our human resources, which is the real wealth of the nation. We should thoroughly revamp the entire education process.
