Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Rates of Saudi women, who joined various sectors of the National Center of Meteorology (NCM), have shot up 50 percent during the year 2023 compared to last year. This was disclosed by Ilham Khairat, director of the training department at NCM.

Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, Ilham unveiled plans to attract more female cadres to forecasting specializations in future through sending them abroad under the Foreign Scholarship Program in order to meet the growing demand in the local labor market. “The NCM is striving to provide its cadets specialized courses in the field of weather monitoring from institutes and centers within the Kingdom and abroad so as to realize the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in terms of empowerment of women and raise their level of knowledge and professional capabilities,” she said, while noting that female workers at NCM occupy specialized professions in the field of cloud seeding and dust storms.

On her part, Dr. Nujoud Al-Ismail, director of weather improvement department at NCM, said that the female staff at the center have high-level of technical and administrative skills in the fields of meteorology, climate, climate change, early warning of sand and dust storms, and the cloud seeding program. “This aligns with the Kingdom’s move to achieve the goals of the Saudi Green and Middle East Green initiatives,” she added.