CODEL LOWEY AND SAUDI VICE MINISTER OF EDUCATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 RIYADH 000224

CODEL
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP JHARRIS AND JBERNDT AND NEA/PPD;
NEA/DRL JLIEBERMAN AND S/GWI FOR DKELLY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KDEM KISL KOCI KPAO PGOV PPD PREL SA
SUBJECT: CODEL LOWEY AND SAUDI VICE MINISTER OF EDUCATION
DISCUSS KACND'S ROLE IN KING'S REFORM EFFORTS

REF: A. 10 RIYADH 172

B. 09 RIYADH 1012

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SUMMARY
--------------


1. (U) During a February 14 visit to the National Dialogue
Center (KACND) CODEL Lowey was briefed on its primary goal of
combating extremism by promoting dialogue and exchanges of
differing points of view among Saudis. On the role of women
the Center's Director explained the SAG privatization
strategy to increase jobs for women and asserted that "social
boundaries" prevented women from driving and that it was not
a "high priority" for Saudi women. The Director also
outlined comprehensive education reforms (known as the
"Tatweer" development program),including increasing math and
science content of primary and secondary curriculums, aimed
at improving critical thinking skills. End summary.


CODEL LOWEY VISIT TO NATIONAL DIALOGUE CENTER
--------------


2. (U) On February 14 CODEL Lowey met with Saudi Arabia's
Vice Minister of Education and Secretary General of the King
Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue (KACND),Dr. Faisal
Bin Moammar, to discuss KACND's role in King Abdullah's
reform efforts. The convivial two-hour meeting, which was
attended by Saudi officials active in education development
and planning, took place at KACND and covered a wide variety
of topics, foremost among them the purpose of and vision for
KACND. The meeting between CODEL Lowey and Dr. Bin Moammar
began with expressions of appreciation concerning the CODEL's
visit to KACND, introductions of the participants and an
explanation of their activities. On the U.S. side, a
delegation headed by Congresswoman Nita Lowey included
members of the House Appropriations Committee, the Commission
on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, the
House Ways and Means Committee and the House Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee attended the meeting. Saudi
participants included delegates active in education
development and planning, among them Dr. Nair Al-Roomi,
Deputy Minister of Education for Development and Planning;
Dr. Ali Al-Hakami, General Manager of the Education
Development Project; Dr. Hanan Al-Ahmadi, Director of the
Institute of Public Administration; Ms. Jenan Al-Ahmad,
Director of the Female Department in the Education
Development Project; and Dr. Bandar Al- Sowailem, Secretary
General of the National Committee for UNICEF.


3. (U) At the outset of the meeting Chairwoman Lowey stressed
that the U.S. had "great hope for Saudi Arabia's continued
leadership" in the region and the world but that there were
challenges the SAG had to face, including Iran and the
Israel-Palestinian issue.


KACND'S MISSION: PROMOTE DIALOGUE TO FIGHT EXTREMISM
-------------- --------------


4. (U) KACND's Secretary General, Faisal Bin Moammar,
explained that KACND was an independent organization that was
part of the Kingdom's civil society. Established six years
ago and working with mosques, schools and families to promote
the skill of dialogue, a skill that was lacking in Saudi
society according to Bin Moammar, it was hoped that KACND
would reach eight million people within the next three years.
Bin Moammar said KACND was the King's best method for
fighting extremism in that it was building bridges between
decision makers and society. Saudi Arabia was "at the heart
of Islam" with the two holiest places of Islam located in the
country and with 1 billion 500 million Muslims looking to
Saudi Arabia, and therefore change needed to come from within
Saudi Arabia, he said. He further noted that Saudi Arabia
was "the only country in which the government initiated
change and society resisted it."


5. (U) The delegation watched a promotional video according
to which KACND's objective was to "unite Saudis under one
roof" by facilitating the expression of views and enabling
the hearing of other points of view through a series of
national dialogues to "spread the culture of dialogue,
tolerance and mediation." Eight national dialogues have
taken place to date, organized according to themes, the video

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mentioned. While the first national dialogue meeting was
limited to male participation, subsequently, men and women
have participated, and the national dialogues have been
transmitted via television ever since the fourth dialogue.
Teachers, professors, youths, religious leaders, and the
private and other diverse sectors participated in the
dialogues and on-line feedback concerning the dialogues is
encouraged, according to the video. Noting that the family
was the birthplace of communication skills, the video stated
that KACND targeted changing the culture of dialogue at that
level and worked through seminars that stressed Islamic
beliefs, including the peaceful coexistence of cultures and
societies. Further, KACND targeted youth as future leaders.
King Abdullah is directly involved in the seminars, and
journalists and various segments of society participate.
KACND has 1,200 trainers, according to the video.


6. (U) Congressman Chandler of Kentucky asked how KACND's
mission was viewed in the broader Islamic world. Bin Moammar
responded that KACND was a "unique experience" not available
elsewhere in the Islamic world. He said that although there
had been dialogues elsewhere, "nobody else had a program of
trying to reach the mass of the people." He explained that
KACND was working with the Islamic League and other
countries, and that most recently UNESCO Beirut had requested
a train-the-trainer program, that would result in training
efforts in Syria and Jordan further down the line. Bin
Moammar said Johns-Hopkins University had endorsed the
training program.


TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION IN COMMUNICATION
--------------


7. (U) Congressman Whitfield of Kentucky asked how the Qur'an
determined a young woman's ability to work or to get a
divorce and who had the authority to make these decisions
about her life. Dr. Bin Moammar said that the Ulema or
religious leaders handled problems through existing fatwas.
He stressed the importance of traditions in Saudi Arabia
based on which the majority of families conducted their
social lives. Bin Moammar said the SAG was using education
and the media to reform the traditions and had succeeded in
"fighting many negative aspects."


8. (U) Dr. Hind Al-Khalifa of King Saud University said that
Islam was a lifestyle covering all issues and that the Qur'an
set forth all aspects of justice and guided communications
with others. She observed that a problem existed with the
interpretation (interception) of the text and the educational
level of some of the interpreters of the text. She explained
that KACND's training was based on Islamic aspects as well.
She had participated in a program that involved a dialogue
with Satan and the Prophet in which God talked to both. She
said the program taught her that, as neither the Prophet nor
Satan but someone in the middle, she should feel free to
talk. Dr. Al-Khalifa said that the training also raised her
awareness of the importance of listening and of the need to
give people space to talk. She said the realization of the
fact that society was in need of this awareness was one of
the successes of KACND. Lastly, she attributed the fact that
children of well-known families were involved in terrorism to
the lack of dialogue in society.


9. (U) Hammam Al-Juraied, head the Youth Committee, said
KACND empowered youth by giving them a voice. He recalled
that the Sixth National Dialogue related to youth issues and
resulted in recommendations from King Abdullah, as a result
of which a dialogue cafe and an Ambassador program had been
established. KACND's youth groups help organize events and
seminars and guided by trainers, they had recently started
holding open discussions in malls to engage youth. She said
that training was also being conducted in small towns and
villages. Yasser Al Fraih, a member of KACND's youth
committee, said the young Ambassadors program promoted
dialogue and cleared up misconceptions without losing the
local identity in the process.


KACND'S MEASURE OF SUCCESS
--------------


10. (U) Representative Hastings of Florida noted that he had
been to many meetings where nothing happened afterwards,
so-called "feel good sessions," and wanted to know how KACND

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was measuring whether it had achieved anything. Bin Moammar
said KACND identified issues in an annual report to the King,
who pursued the issues through follow-up with various offices
and departments. According to Bin Moammar the annual study
confirmed how much had been achieved and KACND changed its
tools based on the study. He stressed that a "silent
majority" was the best weapon for fighting extremism and said
that extremist ideas were shrinking in society. Bin Moammar
said that training people in the "skill of dialogue" was
KACND's most important objective because it prepared people
to become part of the decision-making process.


11. (U) Dr. Amal Al-Moallimi, a trainer for KACND, added that
KACND's objective was to make people more tolerant. She
thought it was impossible to change the reality on the ground
except through the power of the word. She compared KACND's
work to President Obama's "yes, we can" campaign, which
helped him become the first African-American president in
history, according to her.


12. (U) Dr. Al-Ahmadi said that the dialogue had changed the
culture and had become a successful program to fight and
prevent terrorism. She noted that the number of terrorist
incidents had been significantly reduced. Moreover, she
said, children had started to tell their parents that they
needed to have a discussion prior to making a decision.
Previous generations had been raised with a different
attitude, according to Al-Ahmadi, but the culture of dialogue
had created an actual change in society.


MORE WOMEN GRADUATES IN GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS
-------------- --


13. (U) Pointing out the greater role women were beginning to
assume in Saudi society, Bin Moammar joked about the "female
domination" of KACND. Chairwoman Lowey responded that "good,
strong women could make an amazing change in the world," and
mentioned that she had heard that 60 percent of the
university students in Saudi Arabia were women. She asked
where the graduates would end up working and what the
percentages were of female graduates going into business,
academia, and other sectors. She also wanted to know whether
there was a glass ceiling for women. Dr. Hanan Al-Ahmadi,
Director of the Institute for Public Administration,
addressed the question stating that she did not have
statistics but that women graduates mainly worked in
education. She said that 65 percent of the graduate students
were women and ended up in academia and the health
professions. As a result of the Saudi Arabian Government's
privatization strategy, more women were moving into the
government and private, entrepreneurial sectors, Dr.
Al-Ahmadi further explained. Private foundations supported
this trend and 4,000 women received management training
annually, according to her. However, according to Al-Ahmedi,
a barrier to certain professions that are not "convenient for
women, such as engineering," existed.


PLEASE DON'T MEASURE ME BY WHETHER I AM DRIVING
-------------- -


14. (U) Representative Stearns of Florida asked whether the
Saudi Arabian government (SAG) had plans to allow women to
drive. He said he appreciated the attempts being made to
help women succeed, including the construction of
universities for women, but noted that if Saudi women were to
compare their situation with that of Western women, they
would find dramatic differences in terms of the amount of
individual freedom granted. Bin Moammar responded by joking
about his wife, who according to him, was a lousy driver who
narrowly escaped two accidents and noted that he did not want
her to drive again. He said that people resisted copying the
culture of the West, which did not match Saudi beliefs and
could not be "tuned" to Saudi culture. He explained there
were social boundaries regarding women driving and that women
themselves did not regard driving as a high priority. There
was a dialogue on women's issues in Medina in which the women
did not even raise driving as one of the issues as they had
"more important issues," according to Bin Moammar. Moreover,
he said, the Guardian of the Two Holy Mosques had emphasized
that any change in Saudi Arabia would be looked to as a model
by other countries in the region. (NOTE: women are allowed
to drive in all other countries in the region. End note).
Therefore, any proposed changed would need to be thoroughly

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analyzed and examined for conformity with existing
traditions, according to Bin Moammar


15. (U) Director of the Institute of Public Administration
Dr. Al-Ahmadi concurred that Saudi society did not support
women's driving. She said that although Bedouin women did
drive, society as a whole "resisted Western recipes for
change" and asked not to "be measured by whether she was
driving." She personally wanted the right to drive but said:
"please look beyond it." Dr. Ali Al-Khashban of the General
Authority for Tourism and Antiquities said that KACND
obtained results in getting society to accept change, noting
that "Western culture was around us everywhere." Dr. Tamador
Al-Ramah of King Saud University said that what was unique
about KACND was that it respected women who did not want to
mix with men or reveal their faces and "did not exclude them
from being part of the country's future vision." He
elaborated on the conveniences that derived from having a
chauffeur, including not having to find parking or
maintaining the car. Chairwoman Lowey responded that most
would be happy with chauffeurs, but questioned how women
without the means to hire one would get around. Dr.
Al-Khashban then conceded that allowing women to drive was "a
step we want to take" and he was sure it would come soon.


MOE'S CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT: DRAMATIC CHANGE AHEAD
-------------- --------------


16. (U) The CODEL also listened to formal presentations from
Dr. Naif Al-Roomi, Deputy Minister of Education, and Dr. Ali
Alhakami, General Manager the Development Project at the
Ministry of Education. Dr. Al-Roomi gave an overview of the
MOE's curriculum development project involving the
development of the primary and secondary education system and
a math and science project. According to Dr. Al-Roomi, the
new emphasis in education is on communication and dialogue.
He explained that the primary and secondary education system
project aimed at greatly reducing the number of subjects
studied and that overall the MOE was moving away from
subdividing subjects. For example for Arabic, students would
study one rather than five books previously studied. For the
development of the secondary education system project,
students would study seven courses rather than 21 courses.
Moreover, students would acquire life, labor market, and
health skills in the newly revised curriculum, according to
Dr. Al-Roomi. It is envisioned that the curriculum project
will generate a "dramatic change" two years from now, Dr.
Al-Roomi said. He also mentioned that a new English course
content using the McGraw-Hill series had been selected and
that math and science changes based on international
standards were to be implemented this year. All-in-all,
there would be a dramatic new curriculum for grades 1 through
12, he said.


17. (U) Dr. Bin Moammar said that Saudi Arabia's school
system had five million students, 425,000 teachers, and
30,000 schools. Of these, 75 percent were government-built
and the remainder rentals, according to Dr. Bin Moammar. He
further noted that 54 percent of the teachers were females.


TATWEER PROGRAM MOVING KINGDOM TO NEW FRONTIERS
-------------- --


18. (U) According to Dr. Al-Roomi, the Tatweer program is a
"21st Century model of learning that defines goals for the
educational system." Its aims are to produce critical
thinkers and problem solvers, to promote flexibility,
adaptability innovation and creativity, and to achieve
recognition of the fact that the country was not living in
isolation, Dr. Al-Roomi said. It is one of the components of
the King's vision and will be moving Saudi Arabia to new
frontiers, he noted. Saudi Arabia is aiming to become one of
the world's top ten economies and students needed to be
prepared to become members of the international community,
Al-Roomi stated. Saudi Arabia is one of the countries with
the highest population growth in the world and the
educational budget is growing, according to Dr. Al-Roomi. In
order to take the country to the future and to meet the
demands for a skilled work force, a focus on quality and a
system of educational standards was needed that would combine
school services in a partnership with the wider community to
"achieve excellence for all," he explained. The new
educational system is to emphasize quality of learning,

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achievement, sustainable educational development, and
openness to international best practices, he said.


NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR CHILDHOOD: STRATEGIC PLAN
-------------- ---


19. (U) Dr. Bandar Al Sowailem, Secretary General of the
National Committee for UNICEF, said the National Committee
for Childhood was moving into a new phase, with increased
resources for the Commission, a new building, and a strategic
plan to cover the needs of all children. According to him,
the plan consisted of five parts focusing on education,
health care, social problems, environmental safety, and
culture and the media. It further included the creation of a
civil society, he said. 5,000 children and 4,000 families
were involved in developing the plan and in making policy
recommendations, according to Dr. Al Sowailem.


20. (U) Dr. Al-Khalifa of King Saud University is
participating in developing the plan's strategy. She said
the plan's goal was to put children first and to create a
strategy that maintained a balance between the global and the
local. She said children should be looked at as children
too, and not only as what they would become. She said
children needed to be involved in shaping their culture and
should be part of the strategy. Noting that children were
involved with multi-media applications very early, Dr.
Al-Khalifa said that the strategy also needed to examine the
effects of the media in the widest sense, not only in terms
of the educational and social effects.


21. (U) Congresswoman Lowey expressed her appreciation to the
Saudi participants, noting that as a mother of three and
grandmother of eight children, she was concerned about the
future of our countries and felt a sense of urgency. She
said that unless we spoke directly to the kids and made them
understand that there was a path to a positive future, and
that it was not okay to destroy families, communities,
buildings and markets, the whole world was at risk.


22. (U) Dr. Bin Moammar ended the meeting by noting that
Saudi Arabia was at the heart of Islamic countries and had
made a huge investment in promoting reforms. He said the
country's leadership was excellent and Saudi Arabia had a
golden opportunity to get its right place in the world. King
Abdullah's Interfaith Dialogue Initiative would turn "this
area into the most peaceful place on earth," he concluded.


23. (U) The CODEL did not have the opportunity to clear this
message before departing Saudi Arabia.
SMITH