Riyadh, November 16, 2020, SPA -- The Minister of Education, Dr. Hamad bin Mohammad Al Al-Sheikh, has explained that the ministry is currently working on preparing curriculums in critical thinking and philosophy in school curriculums aiming to develop the values of freedom of thought, and tolerance among students, and enabling them to practice critical and philosophical thinking skills to meet different life situations. Minister Dr. Al Al-Sheikh said during the third meeting of the Kingdom's dialogues titled "We discourse for tolerance," organized by King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue (KACND), on the occasion of the International Day for Tolerance, "The Ministry of Education seeks to consolidate the values of tolerance and human understanding among students as it is a fundamental pillar for promoting tolerance in society, and this will be done through multiple practices targeting the personality of the boy and girl students as well as their thinking." The Minister stated that the ministry has paid great attention to developing curricula in a way linking it to national values and cultural commonalities in promoting dialogue and tolerance. These included reviewing and evaluating curricula and ensuring the safety of children from negative thoughts. He added that the ministry contributes to developing effective dialogue methods for teachers in public education schools and faculty members in universities alike, through specialized programs and events in addition to supporting the efforts of the Intellectual Awareness Center to monitor negative practices in educational circles. He also pointed out that the Ministry of Education and universities are working on joint programs to spread the culture of dialogue and tolerance in society and to draw lessons and methods to develop these practices, adding that they are also monitoring global activities on the International Day for Tolerance to benefit from them in addition to the exchange of student delegations with the world. He pointed to the outputs of the "Riyadh Declaration" in the Conference on Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and Common Human Values organized by the UNESCO Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education, and the recommendations it contained that reinforce the values of tolerance in the lives of societies and peoples. --SPA 14:08 LOCAL TIME 11:08 GMT 0011 www.spa.gov.sa/w1451881