CHAPTER ONE: On the Path to Duty
When I first resolved to write this book in 2015, it was with the hope that readers would grasp its positive contribution to the nation’s growth and development, but also importantly, the crucial and sustainable investment in the Kingdom’s most valuable re source: its youth and future generations. Like many others, I care deeply for our great nation; I recognize its key position in the world, and I believe in the immense responsibility and potential of its people. It is this love for country and my belief in the youth that have been the driving force in my plight to constantly push for knowledge and education, so that both the nation and our future generations can reach their full potential and shine brighter than ever. My fascination with education started long before I shouldered the responsibility for it in the Kingdom. It was, in the beginning, a general interest that I indulged in, until I became involved in the development of the Kingdom’s Knowledge Strategy , a comprehensive roadmap of Saudi Arabia positioning itself among developed, knowledge-based economies.
This was the gateway through which I walked into a world where I saw no other option than to heed the divine injunction to the Prophet Muhammad to “Read!” ( Iqra’ !).
Drafting the Plan My first real attempt to chart this knowledge-driven future was a paper I wrote in the 1970s on Saudi Arabia’s Second Five-Year Development Plan (1975-1980), which I later discussed at Stanford University. I started off as an intern at the university’s Center for Research and Industrial Development, which was, at the time, affiliated with the Saudi Ministry of Trade and Industry. [3] As luck would have it, my internship coincided with the early days of the Kingdom’s formation of its strategy, and it later afforded me an opportunity to learn at one of the most prestigious research centers in the world: the Stanford Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, USA. This was the center responsible for developing the Kingdom’s Second Five -Year Development Plan. The Stanford Research Institute used state-of-the-art information indexing and strategy-building technologies, and I, along with my fellow research interns, were put in charge of the industrial part of the work: gathering field data on factories. Also working on the development plan were a group of elite Saudi intellectuals leading the team, from whom I learned many lessons in quality work. One of the team experts who came across some conflicting data had notably said: “Good plans rely on precise informat ion.” While the institute was well -equipped with technology, it was up to us to provide the data and detailed information – a crucial ingredient for planning. After all, modern technology depends largely on quality input, which ultimately determines the accuracy of its output.
Summing up the views I formed during my time as a researcher is some poetry I wrote, excerpts of which were published on Al Jazirah Newspaper.
O brother, I fear the stream Its current is swift and washes away what we hold dear.
This is the life we live, against our own volition And without any say, we lose our principles. In the beginning, they were visitors Helping us develop;
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