Compulsory Education in Saudi Arabia

(Sayigh 1971 , 41 . As Saudi Arabia has changed with the discovery of oil and has become a rich cultural city , it still continues to rely on traditional values and beliefs that stem from the Islamic faith (Sayigh , 1971 , 41 As a result , compulsory education has not been relied upon as the primary way of educating Saudi Arabian children until very recently . The nomadic and tribal nature of the people in this area of world has not presented the need for formal schooling until the present . The shift from this nomadic way of

life has resulted in the need to provide an education to children while also continuing to remain true to Islamic values and beliefs (Sayigh , 1971 , 43

Education still only reaches a small portion of the children living in remote areas of Saudi Arabia . Compulsory education has not been offered or required and the skills that are taught are extremely limited . The availability of formal schooling is sporadic throughout the region and the educational skills that children do acquire are not necessarily gained through attending school (Sayigh , 1971 , 43 . One reason why Saudi Arabia has been so slow in embracing the idea of compulsory education is because the society is reluctant to accept a new way of doing things (Sayigh , 1971 , 43 . This reluctance has led to a country that does not include consistent schooling based on a country wide philosophy of education . Combined with the focus on religious beliefs and values , the Saudi Arabian people are just beginning to realize the value of compulsory and formal education in teaching religious beliefs but also in teaching academics such as mathematics and language

Another stumbling block that Saudi Arabia faces with regards to compulsory education lies in Western opinions about what type of education Saudi Arabian children receive (Propkop , 2003...