RIYADH — On behalf of the Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC), the National Center for School Evaluation and Excellence (Tamayyuz), signed a cooperation agreement with the first foreign education company, Ma’arif for Education and Training, one of the largest private school owners and operators in Saudi Arabia to start implementing school evaluation and accreditation processes for the year 2021. The agreement was signed in the presence of the head of ETEC Hussam Bin Abdel Wahab Zaman and the undersecretary at the Ministry of Investment Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Wakeel at the ETEC headquarters here. The agreement aims to give the opportunity to education companies to register and use the ETEC electronic platform to conduct self-evaluation and benefit from the introductory programs being held by the Commission, in relation to school evaluation and accreditation, in line with the standards and controls approved by ETEC. Ma’arif for Education and Training is owned by Gems Education KSA Holding (GEMS EDUCATION), which is one of the foreign companies licensed in the education and training sector in the Kingdom. Ma’arif has 82 branches in different regions and governorates of the Kingdom. About 18,312 male and female students are enrolled in the company’s schools. It is also the first foreign company with which the Commission is implementing school accreditation processes.