Minister of Education Hamad Al-Sheikh said that the number of scientific research in universities in the Kingdom posted an increase of 120 percent during the current year 2021. “There has been a growth rate of 200 percent in the outputs of scientific research, after developing the institutional support program in 2019. About 27 percent of the outcome of scientific research in the Arab region belonged to researchers in Saudi universities,” he said while speaking at the second session of the Budget 2022 Forum here on Monday. Al-Sheikh said that 54 new text books have been developed in addition to the 112 existing books. He said that there are 35 Saudi universities that found a place in international rankings. These include six universities according to the Shanghai Ranking, 15 among the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and 14 among QS World University Rankings. The minister announced that special tests will be held for first secondary students from this year onwards to know their aptitude, capabilities and the specializations that they want to opt for higher studies. Al-Sheikh said a total of SR185 billion have been allocated to the education sector in the general budget and it is considered a very large amount, in addition to what the ministry receives through initiatives related to the education sector. According to the minister, there are more than 480,000 male and female teachers who have undergone 30,000 training courses. There has been an increase in enrollment in early childhood phase by 22.6 percent in the government sector, and the number of those aged five years has increased by 44 percent.