ABSTRACT
As Ibn Saud meagre revenues suffered in the 1930s from the world economic recession and its aftermath, the development of modern education in Saudi Arabia was slowed and largely confined to the Hijaz, leaving the ulama with a de facto monopoly on education. Paradoxically, the ulama, who at first opposed modern education, under Faysal practically controlled it. The curriculum of Saudi schools came to be focused on Islamic and Arabic studies, to the point where mandatory Islamic courses constituted a third of the curriculum in elementary schools and nearly as much in the intermediate and secondary levels. At the same time the rapid development of modern education necessitated more than ever the employment of foreign teachers and administrators. Rural and urban lower-middle-class students (largely Bedouin) with traditional backgrounds, are often unprepared for the systematic approach and foreign philosophy of modern education.
