Riyadh (UNA-OIC) – The journey to search for and discover talented people in various Saudi regions launched Tuesday, through the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity “Mawhiba”, in partnership with the Ministry of Education.
The initiative will be implemented through the National Center for Measurement, where the national program for the detection of gifted is scheduled to kick off today in Riyadh, under the patronage of Minister of Education Dr. Hamad bin Muhammad Al Al-Sheikh, and in the presence of Mawhiba Secretary-General Dr. Saud Al-Mathemi, Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Asimi, and Executive Director of the National Center for Measurement Dr. Abdullah Al-Qati.
The inauguration ceremony of the National Program for Gifted Identification will be held in its 11th year at the headquarters of the Mawhiba Foundation, and it will be transmitted directly on the Twitter account of the talent @Mawhiba, and during which distinguished education departments will be honored for nominating students for the program in its last session.
This year, Mawhiba, the Ministry of Education and the Center for Measurement, in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, were keen to achieve the program inclusiveness for the largest number of male and female students, as the scale will be applied in two ways: The first is computerized at the headquarters, and the second is remotely for more convenience for students, and it is provided in both Arabic and English.
The application of the scale will include students of all grades from the third primary to the first secondary, in order to enable the largest number of students to have the opportunity to discover and make the most of the services allocated to those who qualify, and the program this year included providing a unified registration platform, making it easier for the student to complete his registration easily and easily.
During the past 10 years of the program’s life, 594,000 male and female students have been nominated, of whom 406,000 have been tested, and more than 133,000 students have qualified and received intensive care in various tracks, and 1,000 students have been sent to the best international universities.
The number of candidates, testers, and those qualified in the national program for gifted detection increased last year, compared to their numbers with the start of the program in 2011, as the number of candidates increased from 43,104 male and female students to 75,996 male and female students by 43 percent, while the number of testers increased from 27,782 male and female students to 53,553 Male and female students by 47 percent, and the number of qualified students increased from 7529 male and female students to 17327 male and female students by 56 percent.
The first phase of the National Program for Gifted Detection was launched in 201, and it included 16 male and female education departments, then the second phase in 2012, and included 29 boys and girls’ education departments, followed by the third phase in 2013 and covered the rest of the education departments, 45 education departments, in addition to the departments that have been added during the past years, bringing the total to 47 education departments.
The program is one of the main gates that enable those who pass it to enter the various programs offered by Mawhiba and the Ministry of Education. The test is offered in both Arabic and English to male and female students, from the third grade to the first secondary school.