Music and Theatre Education Will Soon Be Taught in Saudi Schools

An education official in Saudi Arabia has announced that music education will be offered to kindergarteners and first-graders as part of the country's ongoing educational update.

According to education advisor Abdulatif Al Hamadi, "The ministry (of education) is about to train 8,000 female teachers in music arts."

The Saudi Ministries of Education and Culture announced earlier this week a proposal to train 8,000 female kindergarten teachers in music as part of a course that saw the training of 7,000 additional kindergarten teachers in May.

One of the goals of the strategy is to identify young Saudi talent and nurture it in a way that will increase competition in the cultural and educational sectors.

In the kingdom, which is promoting the arts as part of significant changes, Abdulatif noted that theaters would be activated in both public and private schools.

He said that at the elementary school level, Arabic classes were now held five days a week rather than four, and math and English classes were also more frequent. Islamic studies and the Holy Quran were combined into one curriculum.

Abdulatif Al Hamadi said, “The ministry at present focuses on essential subjects to boost students’ basic skills as well as requirements of the era such as adding a subject of digital skills from the fourth to the sixth grades so that students will learn a lot of basics and principles of cyber security.” 

“The development process, witnessed by educational stages, comes to keep pace with global development,” he further added.

"As of the new school year due to begin next week, new subjects such as earth sciences, space, and event management will be introduced in the secondary school stage," he told Saudi news portal Sabq.