Georgia native James Smith, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, knows his mother would be pleased see what the Islamic kingdom is doing with its education system.
She voluntarily taught one of the first racially integrated classes in the Fayette County school system during the 1960s, even when many in the South resisted desegregation.
Appointed as ambassador to the Middle Eastern country by President Obama in 2009, Mr. Smith spoke at a commencement ceremony last year in the city of Jeddah, where Effat University, a female school, was graduating its first class of engineers.
“I looked out and all I could say was ‘I wish my mother were here tonight,'” Mr. Smith said Dec. 6 at the U.S.-Saudi Business Opportunities Forum in Atlanta, a major three-day event that has drawn more than 1,200 attendees.
Speaking on a panel headlined by the country’s minister of education, Mr. Smith likened the journey toward equal access for women in Saudi Arabia’s education system to the struggles of African Americans under segregation in the South.
In 1965, when Mr. Smith was in high school, women’s literacy rate in Saudi Arabia stood at about 5 percent. Around that same time, Georgia integrated its schools.
Seeing Saudi women advance reminded him how much things have changed in both countries over the last four decades. Now, though their job prospects are still somewhat limited, 60 percent of university graduates in the kingdom are female, Mr. Smith said.
“In my society we have gone from a culture that said ‘total desegregation’ to one where I, as a farm boy from Georgia, also gets to work for a president who also happens to be an African American, all since I was in high school. Education is everything,” he said.
Strong leadership in both places has been key to overcoming inequality, he said, pointing to the role of Maynard Jackson, Andrew Young and Atlanta’s other black mayors in creating during the civil rights movment what preceding white Mayor William Hartsfield envisioned as a “city too busy to hate” in a region roiled by racial conflict.
In a country where women aren’t allowed to drive and gender segregation is practiced to satisfy Islamic customs governing modesty, most working women are educators or nurses. UNESCO figures show that the number of females in the Saudi labor force is lower than what their college graduation rates suggest they should be.
Still, women are advancing in fields like science and technology with the government’s blessing, said Khaled Al-Sabti, the country’s vice minister of education.
With Saudi Arabia looking to diversify its economy away from oil and toward knowledge industries – a key theme of the Atlanta conference – it needs all the bright minds it can get, whether male or female, Dr. Al-Sabti said, adding that the country has had no problem bringing more women into technical fields.
“We believe that one of the main strengths of our country is to rely heavily on the women,” he said.
Prince Faisal bin Abdullah Al Saud, the minister of education, noted that the kingdom recently opened Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University, the world’s largest all-female institution, just outside Riyadh. The school is reportedly teaching disciplines like nanotechnology, bioscience and information technology, among more traditional tracks like nursing and pharmacy.
He also said that women are encouraged to study abroad. Thanks to a large national scholarship fund, more than 130,000 Saudi students are studying outside their home country. About 47,000 have ended up in the U.S., making Saudi Arabia the No. 6 source nation for foreign students.
Prince Faisal pointed to shifts both within his ministry and in broader society as proof that the education system would open further. King Abdullah appointed Norah Abdallah al-Faiz as vice minister for women’s education, making her the first woman to hold a ministry-level position in the country’s history. Also, women, who currently can’t vote in Saudi Arabia, will be allowed to run and participate in local elections in 2015, according to a decree by the 87-year-old king in September.
“It is this vision of inclusion and openness that gives me confidence we will succeed in our journey to transform our education system into a world-class system,” Prince Faisal said.
He outlined other reforms that will be integral to reaching this goal. English is now being introduced in fourth grade, and the government has enacted initiatives aimed at graduating more scientists and technology industry leaders.
Early childhood education has also become a top priority. The country opened an average of one preschool per day in 2011; next year the government plans to more than double that to 2.7. Some $40 billion – about one-third of the nation’s revenues last year – is now allocated for education, triple the outlay from a decade ago, he said.
Additionally, the Saudi education ministry plans to become more hands-off, putting schools “in the driver’s seat” by giving them more autonomy in selecting curriculum. It has also created a holding company to disburse educational funds and set up an independent body to institute standards for public and private schools.
Some U.S. publishing companies like McGraw-Hill are already cashing in on the trend by selling textbooks to Saudi Arabia. The U.S. is also heavily involved in developing new universities there. “This is the future. Our societies are linked. There are huge opportunities in education and training, and I look forward to seeing you in the kingdom,” Mr. Smith said to end his remarks.
The forum continues through Dec. 7 at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta. Visit www.us-saudiforum.com for more information.
