في مقال سابق نُشر في هذه الصحيفة كتبت مقالاً بتاريخ 2/9/2025 حول الجيل المنسي، وتطرّقت فيه إلى حجم الأزمة العالمية في التعليم، واليوم نحاول الإجابة عمّا إذا كان تعليمنا يعاني من أزمة تعليمية.
بمراجعة عميقة لحال التعليم خلال الخمس والعشرين سنة الماضية نجد أن هناك جهوداً كبيرة بُذلت لتحسين وتطوير التعليم الذي صُرفت عليه خلال هذه الفترة ميزانيات ضخمة، أكثر من 3 تريليونات ريال، ونفذت مشاريع تعليمية كثيرة، وصدرت قرارات تنظيمية سامية، لكن التعليم العام في تراجع لا يتناسب مع طموحات القيادة، ومستهدفات الرؤية، وتطلعات الطلاب، وأسرهم.
هذا التراجع الذي لا يليق بمكانة المملكة تؤكده التقييمات والاختبارات الدولية والتقارير العالمية الصادرة عن منظمات عالمية مثل اليونسكو، ومنظمة التعاون الاقتصادي والتنمية (OECD)، والبنك الدولي، وتؤكده أيضاً الاختبارات الوطنية، وتقارير هيئة تقويم التعليم عن التميّز المدرسي، مما يتأكد معه أن قطاع التعليم في المملكة يعاني من أزمة تعليمية مزمنة تهدّد مستقبل الأجيال القادمة والنمو الاقتصادي والبنية الاجتماعية والثقافية والبعد الأمني والفكري، وتتطلب إصلاحاً جذرياً وتدخلاً سريعاً وحازماً لضمان تحقيق أهداف رؤية 2030 في بناء جيل قادر على المنافسة عالمياً، ومستوعب للمتطلبات الاقتصادية الوطنية التي تحققها المملكة حالياً في ظل الرؤية وتوجيهات القيادة ومتابعتها الحازمة.
تُعد بعض المتطلبات ركائز أساسية لا غنى عنها لنجاح أي نظام تعليمي متكامل، ويُنظر إليها باعتبارها عوامل حاسمة في رفع جودة التعليم وتعزيز أثره التنموي. وفي واقعنا التعليمي، ما زال هناك مجال واسع لتعزيز هذه المتطلبات وتفعيلها بشكل مؤسسي، ومن أبرزها:
الرؤية الوطنية الموحدة للتعليم: وجود رؤية واضحة ومعتمدة يعد أساساً لتوجيه الجهود وتوحيد المسار التعليمي مع رؤية 2030.
السياسات التعليمية المواكبة للمستجدات الوطنية والعالمية: إذ لم يتم تحديث السياسة التعليمية منذ ما يقارب خمسين عاماً، الأمر الذي يبرز الحاجة الملحّة لمراجعتها بما يتناسب مع رؤية 2030 والتحولات المتسارعة.
النظام التعليمي الشامل: وجود نظام يحكم عملية التعليم ويضبطها يعد عنصراً محورياً لتكامل السياسات والإجراءات.
حوكمة التعليم وآليات المساءلة والتقييم: فهي تشكّل الأداة الأهم لرفع كفاءة المؤسسات التعليمية وضمان جودة المخرجات.
بالإضافة إلى ضرورة تحقق تلك المتطلبات الرئيسة، فإن هناك مجموعة عوامل تدل أيضاً على وجود أزمة في تعليمنا، منها:
جودة التعليم لا تتناسب مع القرارات السامية الساعية لتحسين التعليم ولا حجم الاستثمار المبذول، فعلى الرغم من الإنفاق الحكومي الكبير والاستراتيجيات المتعددة، فإن جودة المخرجات لا تزال دون المستوى المطلوب مقارنة بالدول المتقدمة والإقليمية والخليجية، حيث أظهرت نتائج تقويم مدارس المملكة الحكومية والخاصة لعام 2024 أن 299 مدرسة فقط حصلت على درجة التميّز من بين أكثر من 30 ألف مدرسة.
ضعف مهارات الطلاب في المواد الأساسية الذي تؤكده نتائج الطلاب في اختبارات التقييم الدولية مثل PISA وTIMSS وهي نتائج منخفضة جداً وتكاد تكون المملكة في مؤخرة قائمة الدول المشاركة في هذه الاختبارات والتقييمات، مما يشير إلى فجوة في جودة التعلم، حيث يوجد ما يزيد على 50% من طلبتنا تحت الحد الأدنى للأداء في تلك الاختبارات الدولية، وهذا لا يتناسب مطلقاً مع ما توليه القيادة من اهتمام بالتعليم، ولن يدعم تحقيق رؤية 2030.
هناك أزمة ثقة متزايدة بين التعليم من جهة وبين الطالب والأسرة والمعلم وإدارة المدرسة من جهة أخرى، مما أوجد ضعف قيمة التعليم والتعلم، وأفرز ظواهر غير مسبوقة في تاريخ التعليم تؤكد انخفاض الثقة بالتعليم، مثل ظاهرة الغياب الكثيف والتسرّب عن المدرسة. هناك أزمة ثقة في قرارات الوزارة المتناقضة والمربكة للأسرة والمعلمين وإدارات المدارس، فضلاً عن أنه ليست هناك استمرارية وثبات لجهود منظومة التطوير والتحسين، وتعدد الإستراتيجيات في آخر عشر سنوات خير مثال.
كما أن التطوير والتحسين للتعليم يعاني من التركيز الجزئي دون وجود نموذج متكامل بعيد المدى مبني على رؤية وطنية، بل يتم طرح مبادرات فردية وفق اجتهادات شخصية.
الفاقد التعليمي للطلاب زاد بشكل حاد، فبعد أن كان سنتين قبل جائحة كورونا أصبح بين ثلاث إلى أربع سنوات، وهو من أكثر نسب الفاقد التعليمي على مستوى العالم.
النتيجة الطبيعية لضعف تحقق تلك المتطلبات الرئيسة ووجود هذه العوامل هي انخفاض جودة التعليم وضعفه وعدم القدرة على المنافسة إقليمياً وعالمياً، مما نتج عنها أزمة تعليم ذات تأثيرات كبيرة على مجموعة أبعاد اقتصادية واجتماعية وتنموية وأمنية وفكرية:
اقتصادياً:
توضّح الأبحاث والدراسات أن الدول ذات الأنظمة التعليمية المتقدّمة تحقق نمواً اقتصادياً أعلى بنسبة 2% سنوياً مقارنة بالدول ذات التعليم منخفض الجودة.
كما تؤكد تقارير منظمات دولية، منها OECD، وشركة McKinsey، أن: كل سنة إضافية من التعليم الجيد تعزز دخل الفرد بنسبة تتراوح بين 8-13%، ووفق تقرير البنك الدولي لعام 2020 فإن تحسين نتائج التعليم بمقدار انحراف معياري واحد في اختبار PISA يعزز نمو الناتج المحلي بنسبة تصل إلى 2% سنوياً على المدى الطويل، كما قدر تقرير صادر عن McKinsey Global Institute أن الاقتصادات التي لا توائم تعليمها مع احتياجات السوق تخسر ما يقارب 1.5% من ناتجها المحلي سنوياً بسبب البطالة المقنعة وضعف الإنتاجية. إضافة إلى ذلك، تشير الدراسات إلى أن ضعف جودة التعليم يحدّ من القدرة على الابتكار وريادة الأعمال عند الشباب، ويجعل الاقتصاد أكثر اعتماداً على القوى العاملة الأجنبية، وما يتبع ذلك من رفع مستويات البطالة وغيرها.
اجتماعياً:
للتعليم تأثير مباشر على حياة الأفراد وتطور المجتمعات. فهو ليس مجرد وسيلة لاكتساب المعرفة، بل هو حجر أساس للمجتمع الحيوي المنتج، وكل تراجع في جودة التعليم يقود إلى ارتفاع معدلات البطالة والجريمة، وانخفاض جودة الحياة. كما أن التعليم منخفض الجودة يدفع المجتمع إلى فقد قيمة التعليم وعدم دعمه وتعزيزه، وإذا انخفضت قيمة التعليم والتعلم لدى المجتمع زادت الفجوة التعليمية وأصبح لدينا جيل منخفض القدرات غير قادر على تحقيق طموحات ومستهدفات رؤية 2030، والمساهمة في بناء الاقتصاد القائم على المعرفة.
أمنياً وفكرياً:
بدون أدنى شك أن التعليم منخفض الجودة الذي يركز على مناهج وأنشطة تعليمية غير مواكبة للتحوّلات العالمية سينتج عنه أفراد يفتقدون مهارات التفكير والتعامل مع التحديات الفكرية والأمنية. هذا يؤدي إلى مجتمع هشّ ينقصه الكثير من المهارات ويصبح أكثر عرضة للتأثر بالأفكار المتطرفة والانحرافات الفكرية التي تهدد أمن المجتمع واستقراره.
مما سبق يتضح أن النظام التعليمي يواجه فجوة في وجود مؤشرات وطنية دقيقة ترصد حجم الخسائر التعليمية المتراكمة عبر السنوات الماضية وتقيس مداها الحقيقي. كما أن هناك حاجة إلى برنامج وطني متكامل لمعالجة الخلل وتعويض الفاقد التعليمي بما ينعكس إيجاباً على جودة المخرجات التعليمية. إضافة إلى ذلك، لا تزال هناك مساحة لتطوير آليات قياس علمية تربط بين نتائج الاختبارات الوطنية والدولية مثل TIMSS وPISA وبين السياسات والبرامج التعليمية المنفذة، بما يضمن الاستفادة المثلى من هذه النتائج.
أما الجانب الأكثر غياباً حتى الآن، فهو تقدير الكلفة الاقتصادية والاجتماعية لهذه الأزمة التعليمية، وما تسبّبه من فجوة في سوق العمل وانعكاساتها على التنمية الوطنية.
ولعل القارئ الكريم يتساءل ما الحل في ظل وجود هذه الأزمة وإنقاذ تعليمنا من انهيار صامت؟ ولعلي هنا أقترح خطوطاً عريضة تساهم في المعالجة الجذرية المبنية على رؤية وطنية:
- تشكيل مجلس أعلى للتعليم، يتولى اعتماد النموذج الإصلاحي للتعليم والإشراف بشكل مباشر على تنفيذه وخاصةً في سنواته الأولى، ويتعامل مع الحلول الجذرية المناسبة من إعادة هيكلة النظام التعليمي إدارياً وفنياً بعيداً عن البيروقراطية السلبية التقليدية المعيقة.
- تبنّي نموذج غير تقليدي (Disruptive) في إصلاح التعليم، يستهدف إعادة صياغة وبناء النظام التعليمي من الجذور متجاوزين التحسينات السطحية والاجتهادات الفردية.
- وضع رؤية تعليمية وطنية تتناسق مع رؤية 2030، وتوجّه التعليم نحو المستجدات من المهارات الحديثة والذكاء الاصطناعي وتطبيقاته والاقتصاد الرقمي والربط المباشر بين مخرجات التعليم واحتياجات سوق العمل.
تابع قناة عكاظ على الواتساب
In a previous article published in this newspaper, I wrote an article dated 2/9/2025 about the forgotten generation, in which I addressed the scale of the global crisis in education. Today, we attempt to answer whether our education is suffering from an educational crisis.
Upon a deep review of the state of education over the past twenty-five years, we find that significant efforts have been made to improve and develop education, with massive budgets allocated during this period, exceeding 3 trillion riyals. Numerous educational projects have been implemented, and high-level regulatory decisions have been issued. However, public education is in decline, which does not align with the aspirations of the leadership, the targets of the vision, and the expectations of students and their families.
This decline, which is unworthy of the Kingdom's status, is confirmed by international assessments, tests, and global reports issued by organizations such as UNESCO, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the World Bank. It is also confirmed by national tests and reports from the Education Evaluation Authority regarding school excellence, which confirms that the education sector in the Kingdom is suffering from a chronic educational crisis that threatens the future of upcoming generations, economic growth, social and cultural structures, as well as security and intellectual dimensions. This situation requires radical reform and swift, decisive intervention to ensure the achievement of the goals of Vision 2030 in building a generation capable of global competition and attuned to the national economic requirements that the Kingdom is currently achieving under the vision and the leadership's firm guidance.
Some requirements are considered essential pillars for the success of any integrated educational system and are viewed as critical factors in raising the quality of education and enhancing its developmental impact. In our educational reality, there is still ample room to enhance and institutionalize these requirements, the most prominent of which include:
The unified national vision for education: Having a clear and approved vision is fundamental for directing efforts and unifying the educational path with Vision 2030.
Educational policies that keep pace with national and global developments: The educational policy has not been updated for nearly fifty years, highlighting the urgent need to review it in line with Vision 2030 and the rapid transformations.
An inclusive educational system: Having a system that governs and regulates the educational process is a pivotal element for the integration of policies and procedures.
Governance of education and mechanisms for accountability and evaluation: These form the most important tool for enhancing the efficiency of educational institutions and ensuring the quality of outputs.
In addition to the necessity of meeting these main requirements, there are several factors that also indicate a crisis in our education, including:
The quality of education does not match the high-level decisions aimed at improving education nor the size of the investment made. Despite the significant government spending and multiple strategies, the quality of outputs remains below the required level compared to developed and regional countries, as the results of the evaluation of government and private schools in the Kingdom for 2024 showed that only 299 schools received an excellence rating out of more than 30,000 schools.
The weak skills of students in core subjects are confirmed by the results of international assessment tests such as PISA and TIMSS, which show very low results, placing the Kingdom near the bottom of the list of participating countries in these tests and evaluations. This indicates a gap in learning quality, with more than 50% of our students below the minimum performance level in those international tests, which is completely inconsistent with the attention the leadership gives to education and will not support the achievement of Vision 2030.
There is a growing crisis of trust between education on one hand and students, families, teachers, and school management on the other, which has led to a depreciation of the value of education and learning, resulting in unprecedented phenomena in the history of education that confirm the decline in trust in education, such as the phenomenon of high absenteeism and school dropout. There is a crisis of trust in the contradictory and confusing decisions of the ministry for families, teachers, and school administrations, in addition to the lack of continuity and stability in the efforts of the development and improvement system, with the multiplicity of strategies in the last ten years being a prime example.
Moreover, the development and improvement of education suffer from partial focus without a comprehensive long-term model based on a national vision, instead of individual initiatives based on personal efforts.
The educational loss for students has sharply increased, from two years before the COVID-19 pandemic to between three to four years now, which is one of the highest rates of educational loss globally.
The natural result of the weak realization of these main requirements and the presence of these factors is a decline in the quality of education and its ineffectiveness, leading to an inability to compete regionally and globally, resulting in an educational crisis with significant impacts on various economic, social, developmental, security, and intellectual dimensions:
Economically:
Research and studies indicate that countries with advanced educational systems achieve higher economic growth by 2% annually compared to countries with low-quality education.
International organizations' reports, including OECD and McKinsey, confirm that: each additional year of good education enhances individual income by 8-13%. According to a World Bank report from 2020, improving educational outcomes by one standard deviation in the PISA test boosts GDP growth by up to 2% annually in the long term. Additionally, a report from the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that economies that do not align their education with market needs lose about 1.5% of their GDP annually due to disguised unemployment and low productivity. Furthermore, studies indicate that poor quality education limits the ability to innovate and engage in entrepreneurship among youth, making the economy more reliant on foreign labor, which subsequently raises unemployment levels and other issues.
Socially:
Education has a direct impact on individuals' lives and the development of communities. It is not merely a means of acquiring knowledge but a cornerstone for a vibrant, productive society. Any decline in the quality of education leads to increased unemployment and crime rates and a decrease in quality of life. Low-quality education drives society to lose the value of education and not support or enhance it. If the value of education and learning declines within society, the educational gap widens, resulting in a generation with low capabilities unable to achieve the aspirations and targets of Vision 2030 and contribute to building a knowledge-based economy.
In terms of security and intellectual aspects:
There is no doubt that low-quality education, which focuses on curricula and educational activities that do not keep pace with global transformations, will produce individuals lacking critical thinking skills and the ability to deal with intellectual and security challenges. This leads to a fragile society that lacks many skills and becomes more susceptible to extremist ideas and intellectual deviations that threaten community security and stability.
From the above, it is clear that the educational system faces a gap in having accurate national indicators that monitor the extent of accumulated educational losses over the past years and measure their true magnitude. There is also a need for a comprehensive national program to address the imbalance and compensate for educational loss in a way that positively reflects on the quality of educational outputs. Additionally, there is still room to develop scientific measurement mechanisms that link the results of national and international tests such as TIMSS and PISA with the educational policies and programs implemented, ensuring optimal utilization of these results.
The most absent aspect so far is the assessment of the economic and social cost of this educational crisis and its impact on the labor market and national development.
Perhaps the esteemed reader may wonder what the solution is in light of this crisis and how to save our education from a silent collapse? Here, I may suggest broad lines that contribute to a radical solution based on a national vision:
- Forming a Supreme Council for Education, which will be responsible for approving the reform model for education and directly overseeing its implementation, especially in its early years, and addressing appropriate radical solutions for restructuring the educational system administratively and technically, away from the obstructive negative bureaucracy.
- Adopting a non-traditional (Disruptive) model in educational reform, aimed at rethinking and rebuilding the educational system from the ground up, surpassing superficial improvements and individual efforts.
- Establishing a national educational vision that aligns with Vision 2030, directing education towards modern skills, artificial intelligence and its applications, the digital economy, and the direct link between educational outputs and labor market needs.
Upon a deep review of the state of education over the past twenty-five years, we find that significant efforts have been made to improve and develop education, with massive budgets allocated during this period, exceeding 3 trillion riyals. Numerous educational projects have been implemented, and high-level regulatory decisions have been issued. However, public education is in decline, which does not align with the aspirations of the leadership, the targets of the vision, and the expectations of students and their families.
This decline, which is unworthy of the Kingdom's status, is confirmed by international assessments, tests, and global reports issued by organizations such as UNESCO, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the World Bank. It is also confirmed by national tests and reports from the Education Evaluation Authority regarding school excellence, which confirms that the education sector in the Kingdom is suffering from a chronic educational crisis that threatens the future of upcoming generations, economic growth, social and cultural structures, as well as security and intellectual dimensions. This situation requires radical reform and swift, decisive intervention to ensure the achievement of the goals of Vision 2030 in building a generation capable of global competition and attuned to the national economic requirements that the Kingdom is currently achieving under the vision and the leadership's firm guidance.
Some requirements are considered essential pillars for the success of any integrated educational system and are viewed as critical factors in raising the quality of education and enhancing its developmental impact. In our educational reality, there is still ample room to enhance and institutionalize these requirements, the most prominent of which include:
The unified national vision for education: Having a clear and approved vision is fundamental for directing efforts and unifying the educational path with Vision 2030.
Educational policies that keep pace with national and global developments: The educational policy has not been updated for nearly fifty years, highlighting the urgent need to review it in line with Vision 2030 and the rapid transformations.
An inclusive educational system: Having a system that governs and regulates the educational process is a pivotal element for the integration of policies and procedures.
Governance of education and mechanisms for accountability and evaluation: These form the most important tool for enhancing the efficiency of educational institutions and ensuring the quality of outputs.
In addition to the necessity of meeting these main requirements, there are several factors that also indicate a crisis in our education, including:
The quality of education does not match the high-level decisions aimed at improving education nor the size of the investment made. Despite the significant government spending and multiple strategies, the quality of outputs remains below the required level compared to developed and regional countries, as the results of the evaluation of government and private schools in the Kingdom for 2024 showed that only 299 schools received an excellence rating out of more than 30,000 schools.
The weak skills of students in core subjects are confirmed by the results of international assessment tests such as PISA and TIMSS, which show very low results, placing the Kingdom near the bottom of the list of participating countries in these tests and evaluations. This indicates a gap in learning quality, with more than 50% of our students below the minimum performance level in those international tests, which is completely inconsistent with the attention the leadership gives to education and will not support the achievement of Vision 2030.
There is a growing crisis of trust between education on one hand and students, families, teachers, and school management on the other, which has led to a depreciation of the value of education and learning, resulting in unprecedented phenomena in the history of education that confirm the decline in trust in education, such as the phenomenon of high absenteeism and school dropout. There is a crisis of trust in the contradictory and confusing decisions of the ministry for families, teachers, and school administrations, in addition to the lack of continuity and stability in the efforts of the development and improvement system, with the multiplicity of strategies in the last ten years being a prime example.
Moreover, the development and improvement of education suffer from partial focus without a comprehensive long-term model based on a national vision, instead of individual initiatives based on personal efforts.
The educational loss for students has sharply increased, from two years before the COVID-19 pandemic to between three to four years now, which is one of the highest rates of educational loss globally.
The natural result of the weak realization of these main requirements and the presence of these factors is a decline in the quality of education and its ineffectiveness, leading to an inability to compete regionally and globally, resulting in an educational crisis with significant impacts on various economic, social, developmental, security, and intellectual dimensions:
Economically:
Research and studies indicate that countries with advanced educational systems achieve higher economic growth by 2% annually compared to countries with low-quality education.
International organizations' reports, including OECD and McKinsey, confirm that: each additional year of good education enhances individual income by 8-13%. According to a World Bank report from 2020, improving educational outcomes by one standard deviation in the PISA test boosts GDP growth by up to 2% annually in the long term. Additionally, a report from the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that economies that do not align their education with market needs lose about 1.5% of their GDP annually due to disguised unemployment and low productivity. Furthermore, studies indicate that poor quality education limits the ability to innovate and engage in entrepreneurship among youth, making the economy more reliant on foreign labor, which subsequently raises unemployment levels and other issues.
Socially:
Education has a direct impact on individuals' lives and the development of communities. It is not merely a means of acquiring knowledge but a cornerstone for a vibrant, productive society. Any decline in the quality of education leads to increased unemployment and crime rates and a decrease in quality of life. Low-quality education drives society to lose the value of education and not support or enhance it. If the value of education and learning declines within society, the educational gap widens, resulting in a generation with low capabilities unable to achieve the aspirations and targets of Vision 2030 and contribute to building a knowledge-based economy.
In terms of security and intellectual aspects:
There is no doubt that low-quality education, which focuses on curricula and educational activities that do not keep pace with global transformations, will produce individuals lacking critical thinking skills and the ability to deal with intellectual and security challenges. This leads to a fragile society that lacks many skills and becomes more susceptible to extremist ideas and intellectual deviations that threaten community security and stability.
From the above, it is clear that the educational system faces a gap in having accurate national indicators that monitor the extent of accumulated educational losses over the past years and measure their true magnitude. There is also a need for a comprehensive national program to address the imbalance and compensate for educational loss in a way that positively reflects on the quality of educational outputs. Additionally, there is still room to develop scientific measurement mechanisms that link the results of national and international tests such as TIMSS and PISA with the educational policies and programs implemented, ensuring optimal utilization of these results.
The most absent aspect so far is the assessment of the economic and social cost of this educational crisis and its impact on the labor market and national development.
Perhaps the esteemed reader may wonder what the solution is in light of this crisis and how to save our education from a silent collapse? Here, I may suggest broad lines that contribute to a radical solution based on a national vision:
- Forming a Supreme Council for Education, which will be responsible for approving the reform model for education and directly overseeing its implementation, especially in its early years, and addressing appropriate radical solutions for restructuring the educational system administratively and technically, away from the obstructive negative bureaucracy.
- Adopting a non-traditional (Disruptive) model in educational reform, aimed at rethinking and rebuilding the educational system from the ground up, surpassing superficial improvements and individual efforts.
- Establishing a national educational vision that aligns with Vision 2030, directing education towards modern skills, artificial intelligence and its applications, the digital economy, and the direct link between educational outputs and labor market needs.
