The Ministry of Education and the Saudi G20 Secretariat signed two cooperation agreements in a number of educational and organizational fields, targeting male and female students at all educational levels in the Kingdom. This comes under the umbrella of the "G20 Culture Program", which is the first program of its kind at the level of the G20 countries, which targets all stages of education under a unified framework. The Ministry of Education is working in partnership with several executive agencies to activate three sub-programs. They are represented in the G20 Academy Program which is an educational program that includes digital and paper educational materials, activities, and competitions, in addition to a multi-episode reality television program that includes simulation experiences and competitions on topics related to the G20 countries, and helps develop skills such as leadership, public speaking and problem-solving.
The first agreement also aims to activate the G20 cultural competition, which is a competition on social media networks, which includes a set of mini-courses and short tests on the G20 knowledge content. The last program within this agreement works to activate the G20 Week, which represents a cultural week that includes the participation of students of educational institutions through a set of activities, in order to spread culture and enhance their role towards the Kingdom's G20 presidency.
The second agreement contributes to empowering the people of the country, highlighting their role, and raising the sense of responsibility towards society and voluntary work by involving 1,000 volunteers from young men and girls from different cities of the Kingdom in organizing the workshops, events, and international conferences accompanying the G20 activities. It also seeks to give young people a unique opportunity to participate in this important event and to reach 100,000 volunteer hours during the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's G20 Presidency.
These programs are launched in conjunction with the Kingdom's G20 presidency, targeting more than 30,000 schools and universities in the Kingdom, and more than 6 million participants inside and outside the Kingdom, as well as involving more than 500,000 teachers. The names of the winners will be announced in the competitive activities in November 2020.
These programs reinforce the Kingdom's great interest in education as one of the most important requirements of the twenty-first century and highlight the pivotal role that the Kingdom plays during the G20 presidency year, through the development of effective policies at the global level. In addition to its quest to promote human values among young people and enhance their abilities to link societal issues to global issues in order to enable them to face these challenges.
These agreements were signed by His Excellency the Minister of Education, Dr. Hamad bin Mohammad Al Sheikh, and His Excellency the Secretary-General of the Saudi G20 Secretariat, Dr. Fahd Toonsi.