This week, in line with Saudi Arabia’s growing efforts to get women onto the roads and into every job sector, its southern region of Asir has announced that it has begun construction on what it claims will be the Kingdom’s largest driving school for women. The site of the upcoming school is said to be spread over some 70,000 square meters, and the training field has been designed in cooperation with one of the largest specialized engineering companies in the world.
Dr. Osama Al-Haizan, CEO of Tatweer Driving School, was quoted by Saudi Gazette, explaining that the piling and leveling works for the construction of the school, which will be located along King Fahd Road in Abha, have already begun, and that the “training field has been designed in a way to develop all the skills and exercises approved by the Traffic Department and applicable to all Tatweer schools.”
This news comes on the heels of another landmark announcement made last month of Reema Juffali becoming Saudi Arabia’s first female car racer to break into the Kingdom’s male-dominated motor sports. The 27-year-old made her motoring debut months after Saudi Arabia’s decades-old ban ended, and made history once again by competing two weeks ago in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY, an all-electric race in Diriyah, close to the capital Riyadh.
In 2017, following the ascension of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to his role, Saudi Arabia announced the rescinding of the decades-old ban on female motorists, allowing women to finally get behind the wheel. Following this landmark decree that was made in September, the Kingdom witnessed an unprecedented level of development of institutions created for female motorists, from car showrooms catering specifically to women to driving schools in every corner of the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to lift the driving ban has been seen as one of the most prominent moves by the country’s young Crown Prince. Under his leadership, Saudi Arabia continues to move ahead with Vision 2030, an ambitious plan that is set to transform the Kingdom’s society and economy..
