وزير التعليم يفتتح الجلسة الرئيسية في ملتقى القطاع غير الربحي ويعلن تحقيق 20 مليون ساعة تطوعية

The Minister of Education, Yusuf Al-Bunyan, opened the main session titled "Promising Opportunities and Future Outlook for the Non-Profit Sector in Education and Training" as part of the Non-Profit Sector Forum in Education and Training, attended by a number of national leaders, officials, and experts.

The Minister of Education emphasized that volunteer work has become a fundamental basis for building sustainability and achieving transformation in education, noting that volunteer hours have recorded more than 20 million volunteer hours, a historic figure that reflects the level of solidarity and social responsibility.

He explained that the educational environment represents about one-third of the impact on the quality of education, alongside the development of the curriculum and teachers, pointing out that the Ministry of Education is moving forward in strengthening partnerships with the non-profit sector and supporting entities to develop schools and prepare them in line with community aspirations, affirming that the past period has witnessed extensive updates to systems, regulations, and legislation to ensure quality performance and achieve the desired impact.

He indicated that this work should be a sustainable foundation, and it is part of the national transformation efforts in education in partnership with various sectors.

For his part, the Deputy Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, Engineer Mansour Al-Mushaiti, confirmed that the non-profit sector enjoys unprecedented support from the wise leadership - may God protect it - as a key partner in achieving national development targets, and that it represents a major driver for sustainable development in society.

He explained that this sector has the flexibility and ability to provide competitive services and products, calling for a shift away from traditional practices to strategic partnerships that ensure resource sustainability and efficient implementation.

He clarified that the ministry has established charitable institutions and funds to achieve sustainability, recycling, and support for environmental and community work, including the Postal Foundation and other specialized institutions, noting that the target is to raise the contribution of the non-profit sector to 30% of national development, enhancing quality of life.

He pointed to successful experiences in resource efficiency, where some schools and educational facilities used to consume more than 50,000 cubic meters of water daily, and consumption has decreased with these partnerships to only 1,500 cubic meters, thanks to initiatives worth over 200 million riyals that covered more than 2,200 schools, reflecting the effectiveness of the partnership with the Ministry of Education.

Additionally, Dr. Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, the head of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), clarified that the authority is working on the sustainability of national initiatives through key pathways, including the educational, training, and qualification pathway, the climate and environment development pathway, the pathway for building knowledge resources based on artificial intelligence, in addition to the scientific research pathway.

He affirmed that these pathways enhance the building of national capacities and the development of innovation and entrepreneurship skills among students and teachers, supporting the Kingdom's global competitiveness in the fields of technology, data, and artificial intelligence.