The early childhood education sector in Saudi Arabia stands out as one of the promising paths to enhance women’s participation in the labor market and open new investment horizons, due to its close connection to human capital development and the economic transformation that the Kingdom is witnessing.
According to a recent report issued by Arthur D. Little, a copy of which was reviewed by Asharq Al-Awsat, Saudi Arabia has the capabilities that qualify it to lead the expansion of the early education sector in the Gulf, in an opportunity that intersects with the goals of “Vision 2030” and the human capacity development program, and combines the economic return on investment in the sector and its long-term impact in building the capabilities of future generations.
At the regional level, the report estimates that raising the kindergarten enrollment rate to a near-universal level of 95 percent by 2035 will require the establishment of about 11.6 thousand new kindergartens and the provision of 116 thousand additional educational personnel. Saudi Arabia is expected to account for about three-quarters of this expansion.
The report also indicates that expanding the scope of ambitions to include nurseries, in addition to kindergartens, may raise the region’s needs for about 40,000 early childhood education and care institutions, and about 224,000 educational personnel, according to a scenario that aims to raise the enrollment rate in nurseries to 40 percent.
Empowering women
The expansion of early education is of particular importance in Saudi Arabia, after women’s participation in the labor market rose from 17 percent in 2016 to 36 percent in 2025, exceeding the “Vision 2030” target of 30 percent.
As women's participation in economic activity expands, the importance of providing high-quality educational and care services to children in their early years increases, which provides families with broader options for reconciling professional and family responsibilities, and supports the sustainability of the gains achieved in women's empowerment.
Human capabilities development program
Amr Kazemi, senior project manager at Arthur D. Little, said in an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that the study is directly consistent with the goals of the Human Capacity Development Program, one of the “Vision 2030” programs, and the new public education system in the Kingdom. It provides an estimate of the size of investments and resources required to achieve expansion ambitions in early education, while emphasizing the priority of quality alongside quantitative expansion.
He added: “In terms of national targets, the Human Capacity Development Program sets a clear goal of raising the kindergarten enrollment rate from 23 percent to 90 percent by 2030. The study clarifies the requirements necessary to achieve this goal on the ground; Estimates indicate that the Kingdom needs about 8,750 new kindergartens, and the provision of approximately 87,000 kindergarten teachers, based on an enrollment rate of about 27 percent currently. The gap between the current level and the target represents the basis on which the study’s estimates regarding the infrastructure and necessary educational personnel were built.”
At the implementation level, Kazemi believes that the new public education system provides a set of capabilities that the study considers crucial to achieving these ambitions. The study confirms that expanding opportunities for enrollment in early education without ensuring quality may lead to increased spending without achieving the desired returns.
He pointed out that the main challenges are related to the availability of educational personnel, applying standards, and strengthening regulatory frameworks, and are not limited to expanding absorptive capacity.
Private sector
The senior project manager at Arthur D. Little added that the new system supports these trends by strengthening the governance of the early childhood stage, obligating educational institutions to adhere to accreditation and quality standards, in addition to providing a larger and more regulated role for the private and non-profit sectors.
The study believes that this organizational system represents a key factor in transforming the expansion of enrollment into tangible educational and development results, rather than being limited to the provision of care services.
Kazemi stressed that the Kingdom possesses the necessary capabilities and ambition to lead the next phase of early childhood education development in the Gulf, explaining that the absorptive capacity that can be provided during the next decade does not mean merely an expansion of the educational infrastructure, but rather represents an opportunity to build a base of specialized professional cadres, enhance human capital, and support comprehensive economic transformation.
New education system
This trend comes in the context of regulatory developments taking place in the education system in Saudi Arabia, including the issuance of the public education system in July 2026, which aims to strengthen the governance of public education, improve the quality of the educational environment and its outcomes, and provide the necessary regulatory frameworks to develop the sector, in line with the goals of “Vision 2030.”
For more than a century, the presence of British artist and designer Kate Faulkner has not gone beyond the margins of William Morris's artistic story. Her works were mistakenly attributed to him, and her contribution to British decorative arts remained largely hidden.
But Faulkner was, during her lifetime, a pioneering artist; She was the first, after Morris himself, to design wallpaper and fabrics for Morris & Co., and she was one of only 4 designers to gain his trust in this field. Some of the engravings she designed in her name for the company during the 1870s and 1880s are still sold today, according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
Now, an art exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge seeks to restore Faulkner to her rightful place in art history.
“An Invitation to Art: William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites” is the first exhibition to celebrate Faulkner and her work as a designer, craftsman, and workshop supervisor at Morris & Company.
For the first time, a huge 6.3-metre-wide artistic altar, made of oak and decorated with silver gesso, will be on display to the public, a work that Faulkner commissioned for the company in 1886. Alongside it will be displayed a number of her designs for textiles and wallpaper patterns that contributed to establishing William Morris’s fame and the spread of his works among the public.
Among the most prominent works on display is a ceramic tile bearing the image of Penelope, the heroine of a Greek myth, based on a design by artist Edward Burne-Jones. The exhibition also includes examples of her colorful ceramic works, including decorative dishes that were sold in the “Morris & Company” store.
“Kate Faulkner was not just an artist working in the shadow of William Morris,” said Karen Livingstone, curatorial advisor to the exhibition. Rather, she was a prominent and independent artist in her own right.”
She added: “Her skill and creative contributions were the foundation of the work of Morris & Company, and this exhibition, along with the new research that accompanies it, reveals how central her artistic voice was to the commercial success achieved by William Morris.”
Faulkner's 1879 wallpaper design, called "Mallow," is still sold today through the company.
Other wallpaper manufacturers bought her designs, and her work gained international fame, but her artistic legacy has remained overshadowed by Morris since her death in 1898.
Livingstone is appealing to the public for help in finding descendants of Faulkner's sister, Lucy Orensmith, whose granddaughter Leslie Janet Hitch, nee Simmons, died in 1995. Livingstone hopes this will lead her to find a photograph or portrait of Faulkner; It is not yet known that any picture of her exists.
“I made great efforts to track down her family members and find a photo of her, but I achieved nothing,” said Livingston, author of “Pioneers in the Arts and Crafts Movement.”
She added: “I would very much like to know the whereabouts of her family members, so that the scope of her artistic legacy can be expanded and other aspects of it can be revealed.”
As Halloween approaches, doorways across the country are decorated with large pumpkins, carved into scary faces, and lit from inside with small candles. But this year, celebrants may face a shortage of pumpkins due to drought, with experts warning that the sizes of the fruits will be much smaller than usual, according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
Celebrants may have to use small pumpkin fruits, while some suggested drawing scary faces on the vegetables instead of carving them, to celebrate this occasion, which is known for its terrifying atmosphere.
England witnessed a severe drought throughout most of the months of this year, which caused great damage to agricultural crops. Data indicate that this year's crop may be the worst ever, with farmers struggling to secure the water needed to irrigate their crops.
Pumpkin fruits are composed of 90 percent water, which makes them extremely in need of it during the growth stages. The origins of these vegetables go back to the American continents, before they arrived in Britain during the Tudor era in the sixteenth century.
Guy Singh-Watson, founder of Riverford, a company specializing in organic vegetable boxes, said that the small size of pumpkin fruits this year is not surprising, after a summer characterized by exceptionally high temperatures and scarcity of rain, given that these fruits consist mostly of water.
"Maybe it's time to ask why we're so obsessed with giant pumpkins for carving in the first place," he added.
Dispensing with squash, or using other vegetables instead, would return the tradition of vegetable carving to its historical origins. This custom began in Britain during the seventeenth century, coinciding with the celebration of the ancient Celtic festival Samhain, during which it was believed that spirits roam the earth.
Pumpkins were not the traditional choice at the time, but root vegetables, such as root celery, turnips, and fodder beets, were carved into grotesque faces, in the belief that these shapes could ward off evil spirits.
For his part, Guy Barter, chief horticulturist at the Royal Horticultural Society, said that the sizes of pumpkin fruits appear smaller than usual this year, unless they receive large amounts of water, noting that drought makes providing adequate irrigation very difficult from a practical standpoint.
He explained that pumpkins have a relative ability to withstand drought, but the weather conditions this year pushed this ability to its limits.
He added that high temperatures late in the season, coupled with stress caused by water shortages, caused the fruits to ripen earlier than usual. He pointed out that its dry matter content has reached good levels, and its peel has excellent hardness, which suggests that the crop can be stored well. But he pointed out that the commercial value of pumpkins designated for celebrating Halloween disappears completely the day after the occasion, which he described as unfortunate, explaining that they are suitable for preparing delicious types of soup until the New Year, when the winter squash season arrives, which has a better taste.
Singh-Watson said that growing large, water-rich pumpkins just to throw them away after Halloween was a waste of resources.
He said: “I enjoyed growing pumpkins in the past, as it is a beautiful crop, but the idea of growing something that will end up as waste has become more difficult to justify with the passage of time, as growing any crop has an environmental cost, and it does not seem logical to produce huge amounts of waste without anyone benefiting from it for food.”
