The education system in Saudi Arabia is primarily under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education and the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training. Other authorities such as the Ministry of Defense and Aviation, the Presidency of the National Guard, and the Ministry of the Interior provide their affiliates and children with education at all levels, consistent with Ministry of Education guidelines. The highest authority that supervises education in Saudi Arabia is the Supreme Committee for Educational Policy, established in 1963.
According to the World Bank database, public spending on education is 6.8 percent of GDP, and public spending on education as a percentage of government expenditure was 27.6 percent in 2004. Education spending as a percentage of overall spending tripled from 1970 to 2000, and neither economic growth nor the price of oil had much impact on this trend.
The Ministry of Education developed The Ministry of Education Ten-Year Plan 1425-1435, Note 1 which set the following goals:
The education of 4- to 6-year-old children and the consideration of kindergarten as an independent stage as compared with other educational stages in terms of its buildings and syllabi
Accommodation of all age categories from 6 to 18 years old at various stages of education
Deepening the spirit of loyalty and pride of the country through intellectual awareness of Saudi Arabia's national issues
Preparing students academically and culturally at the local and international levels to be able to achieve advanced international posts in the fields of mathematics and science for various age categories, taking into account International tests' standards
Organization of girls' technical education
Development of an educational system for students with special needs
Development and growth of educational and administrative training for the Ministry's personnel
Improvement of internal and external sufficiency for the educational system
Development of syllabi based on Islamic values leading to the development of male and female students' personality and to their integration in society as well as to the achievement of scientific and thinking skills and life characteristics resulting in self-education and lifelong learning
To improve the quality of male and female teachers and to increase the citizens' rate in the education sector to achieve the full use of Saudi human resources
To develop the educational structure and to update the school map to meet the expected quantitative and qualitative changes in the next stage
To develop the infrastructure of information and communication technology and its employment in education and learning
To develop male and female adults' education and to eradicate illiteracy
The Ministry's comprehensive administrative development
Expansion of social participation in education
To establish integrated systems for accountability