Saudi Arabia Children and School

By | June 15, 2021

What do children in Saudi Arabia learn?

In 1970, only two out of 100 women in Saudi Arabia could read and write. Today half of the students are women, so a lot has happened here in recent years.

Islamic laws are interpreted very strictly in Saudi Arabia. This has an impact on the school system. Faith plays a much more important role here than it does for us. This applies not only to the elderly, but also to the young.

As a country located in Middle East according to aceinland, the Saudi Arabia puts money into education. In contrast to us, schooling is strictly separated according to gender, so there are schools for boys, schools for girls and Islamic classes for boys.

There is nine years of compulsory schooling in Saudi Arabia which applies to girls and boys alike. But it is important for teaching that all subjects and, above all, the content are always in accordance with the Koran and Sharia. In the children aged six to go primary school to 13 years. This was followed by a kind of middle school over three years and then further school education up to 19 years or vocational training from 16 years.

Islam class

During elementary school, children learn geography, history and art. The language of instruction is Arabic. In addition, there are Islam classes, which take up about a third of the daily class. It would be like having two hours of religion class every day in elementary school. The boys get further Islam lessons outside of school. Girls get home economics lessons and boys tech.

School lessons are mostly frontal, it is not about developing your own ideas or thoughts and questioning things. The children should learn as much as possible by heart.

English as a foreign language

After primary school, the children continue to go to school separately for three years. Then English is added as a subject. If the children or adolescents continue to attend school, the boys still receive additional religious education, while the girls’ lessons are limited to general or technical education.

Islam classes are also still compulsory at universities. At universities, too, women and men continue to be taught separately, although often half of the students are women. Most of the professors and the majority of the teachers in Saudi Arabia are female. But outside of the teaching profession, it is very difficult for women in Saudi Arabia to find a suitable job. Only five out of 100 women actually work after their studies.

Joint lessons?

In the meantime, however, there have been initial attempts to teach girls and boys together, both in primary schools and at universities. Only the future can show whether Saudi Arabia will open up and recognize that the future of the country, the innovations and developments and all the demands on modernity can only be achieved with women.

Incidentally, wealthy parents usually send their children to private schools and foreign parents to foreign schools.

Child labor and poverty

Even in a rich country like Saudi Arabia there are children who work. Most of these are children who have been abducted from other countries, such as India, and now serve as cheap labor. Children work as street vendors or are used in camel races because they can work as jockeys due to their light weight. Some children also have to work because their parents are poor. Even if Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries on earth, there are still poor people here who do not benefit from wealth.

Saudi Arabia Children