For the first time in the history of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, female teachers will now educate boys in public schools.
According to Arab News, the ministry of education has announced that female teachers will be educating young boys in 1,460 government schools across the kingdom.
The announcement came as the kingdom began a new school term on September 1.
The ministry said that hiring female educators is part of a government initiative entitled “The Early Childhood Schools Project”, means women will be educating 13.5 percent boys in the youngest school years.
Suaad Al-Mansour, Assistant Director-General of education in Jeddah speaking to Arab News said, “With this project, the Ministry of Education aims to improve the efficiency of the educational system and ensure that every child has access to quality education around the Kingdom.”
This follows a string of recent steps forward in the kingdom- including women granted permission to drive, restrictions on travel were lifted and start businesses, with several taking up jobs in government, as flight attendants and as news anchors.