In Saudi Arabia, the national education policy emphasises developing well-rounded human beings. This broader role of education echoes the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, which urge greater efforts to empower students to create a better world. This paper aims to investigate to what extent the rhetoric of Saudi education policy has been translated into practice, with a focus on the degree to which policymakers consider this wider approach and the impact that the current policy designs have on students. The study utilises the capability approach to identify students' real opportunities to expand their learning and life capabilities. Findings from this study suggest that Saudi education tends to focus on economic benefits and give little consideration to the intrinsic value of education for whole-person development and lifelong learning. Therefore, a wider perspective is needed in education policymaking that acknowledges both the instrumental and intrinsic roles of education.