Abdullah Al-Ghamdi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

 

RIYADH — The Public Education Evaluation Commission will be evaluating around 150 schools next month. Head of the commission, Naif Al-Roumi, said the commission, established in 2014, will regularly evaluate public schools of all levels every four years as per international standards.



“The evaluated school will be placed in four categories in terms of quality. The categories include: Excellent, very good, good and need to be enhanced schools. Each school will receive a detailed report of what it needs to improve to be put in the higher category and all reports will be forwarded to the Ministry of Higher Education,” said Al-Roumi.



He also said the commission has been performing exceptionally well given the timeframe and circumstances of its establishment. “The commission was established last year and has so far completed 53 percent of its planned tasks. The commission had set 13 goals to achieve by the end of the academic year and has so far achieved seven of the goals,” said Al-Roumi.

He added the commission aimed at enhancing the quality of public education.

 

However, the commission has faced many obstacles in its establishment. “We faced many obstacles such as a lack of experts in the field of education evaluation, lack of knowledge about the importance of evaluation in public schools and a competitive job market for evaluators in the Kingdom,” said Al-Roumi.



He added the commission submitted a proposal to the King Abdullah Scholarship Program requesting scholarship programs in the field of education evaluation.



“We also contracted with several national and international organizations such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Regional Center for Planning to have consultants in the field of evaluation. The commission also attended the career day for Saudis held in London and Washington,” said Al-Roumi.