RIYADH: There are no teachers specialized in preschool education among the Ministry of Education's 500,000 teachers and the rate of children enrolled in the country's kindergartens is very low, according to Dr. Bandar Bin Homoud Al-Suwailem, Secretary General of the National Committee for Childhood. Dr. Al-Suwailem spoke Monday at a workshop, “Media for Childhood,” at the GCC Education Office in Riyadh, on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, Chairman of the Committee. Holding the workshop comes within the Minister of Education's directives to coordinate and interact with the National Committee for Childhood's strategic partners, especially media institutions and journalists involved in the field, he said. “The Committee does not merely aim to present some services to the children, but to implement child's rights stated in Shariah and in conventions and accords,” he said. Media outlets play a large role in childhood development, said Dr. Hasan Hussein Al-Bilawi, secretary general of the Arab Council for Childhood and Development (ACCD). “The media today is one of the effective elements in forming the character of a child,” he said.
