The Ministry of Education has given its approval for Saudis to be admitted to Saudi-owned international schools for foreign communities from the beginning of the next academic year. Al-Hayat Arabic daily reported Ibrahim Al-Salim, the chairman of the National Education Committee at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as saying that the ministry had issued its approval in response to numerous requests from parents who note that the schools teach their curriculums in English. The ministry, according to Al-Salim, has approved the move only for schools with a 70-percent rating in the schools' classification register and that are owned by Saudi nationals. The schools formerly only admitted Saudis whose parents were employed in the diplomatic corps and with approval from the ministry, Al-Salim said, or the children of Saudis returning from abroad who were “not able to join Saudi schools due to their educational circumstances”. The supervisor of Educational Media at the ministry, Fahd Al-Tayyash, told Al-Hayat that the move was designed to give parents more freedom of choice in the education of their children, “as long as it is offered in the country meaning that its education is approved by the ministry… and that it offers an acceptable model in accordance with the Kingdom's educational policy”. Al-Tayyash said that the number of Saudis in international schools was “limited” and “in accordance with regulations governing the interests of the student and the country”. He added that international schools in the Kingdom had begun to make changes and bring balance through the introduction of European curricula alongside Saudi curricula that include Islamic Culture and Arabic Language. International schools in the Kingdom are classified into two groups: embassy-run schools dedicated to educating children from specific foreign communities, and commercially-run international schools owned by Saudis and supervised by the Ministry of Education, Al
