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March 3, 2006 |
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CROWN PRINCE SULTAN IBN ABDUL AZIZ, ALLOCATES SR10 MILLION TO PROVIDE HOUSING AND BASIC NECESSITIES TO THREE DEAF AND DUMB FAMILIES SOME 300 KM FROM TAIF. PRINCE SULTAN ADDRESSES HIS THANKS TO THE GOVERNOR OF RIYADH AND MEMBERS OF RIYADH CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION FOR THEIR SERVICES TO PRINCE SULTAN UNIVERSITY. Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General has been selected as the Personality of Humanitarian Development for 2005 in recognition of his contributions to various humanitarian issues at the local, regional and international arenas. His selection has been unanimous at the panels supervising Middle East Research Center for Humanitarian Development, Muslim World Council for Handicap and Rehabilitation, Medical and Rehabilitation Consultation House and World Establishment of Press. This selection has been blessed by a number of Arab and international personalities. On the other hand Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation, has allocated SR10 million to provide housing and basic necessities to three deaf and dumb families living in tents in the center of Malawi desert, some 300 km from Taif. The rest of the account will be deposited in individual accounts of the 24 family members to cover future needs. The Crown Prince was moved by the plight of the deaf families after Al-Riyadh Arabic daily reported about them. The family members will receive treatment at the most sophisticated specialist hospitals and the deaf and dumb children will be admitted to specialized public or private schools. Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz also ordered that all means of decent life be made available to them, including housing at the location of their choice, furniture, transportation and other amenities. Taif Governor Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz Ibn Moammar told Al-Riyadh Arabic daily that the three families will be moved without delay to their new homes in large cities and will preferably be located near specialist hospitals and schools in preparation for their integration into society. The three families comprising 24 men, women and children are leading a harsh life in the desert. The first family is headed by Jiddi Bin Mishaan Al-Otaibi, who is in his 50s, and his wife Muneer, who is in her thirties. They have nine children, aged between 2 and 12 years, the entire family is deaf. Their children are illiterate because they cannot afford the special education that is required and neither can they make the long-distance journeys out to the schools, that exist near civilization. Their previous attempts in trying to formally educate their kids have confirmed this, as Al-Otaibi related to the Saudi Gazette. I used to travel with my son to a school 45 km away, in this rough terrain, for almost three years but he did not benefit from it so he left school. After this failure I decided not to repeat this with the other children. It is easy to see why Al-Otaibi has made the decision he has, after all living his lifestyle requires little knowledge of the sciences and arts. The education his children need has to be taught in their world, and their world is the desert and their animals. Like the Bedouins of before, these families of mutes depend totally on their herd of sheep and camels, which are their lifeline. Two of the heads of the families are brothers while the third is related through the wife, who is a cousin. The second family consists of five members, also all deaf, except for the wife. Their children are not of the school-going age, yet they have already decided that they will not be sending them on a hundred of kilometer round-trip away from home to receive an education. This is primarily because they do not have the money to fund such an activity - money being a commodity they have little use for, in a place where the nearest shop is several kilometers away. Al-Otaibi and his brother have been living in the Malawi Desert for the last ten years as food is more abundant in this area and it is safe for their women to move around freely. The biggest problem they face is the regular stings and bites suffered by the younger children from scorpion and snakes bites, for which they now have their own unique remedy. However, not everything is blissfully basic and sweetly simple for the families, whose disability was the cause of a sad and tragic loss recently. Five months ago, Al-Otaibi's deaf brother went out into the desert at night, looking for his camel, unaware that his deaf two-year-old daughter was following him. When he returned at night without the daughter, everybody went looking for the little toddler, only to find her, the next day, lying dead from thirst and heat exhaustion. The third family is headed by Saud Hawsan, who is in his seventies and his wife, who is in her thirties; they are seven-strong. On the other hand Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz, Governor of Riyadh region and Chairman of Riyahd Charitable Organization for Sciences has received a letter of thanks from Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Aviation and Inspector General, in which the Crown Prince expressed his gratitude to Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz and members of the Charity for their efforts exerted in serving the university and signing the Oxford, Prince Sultan university Scholarship Pact. Prince Sultan University is an institution dedicated to lifelong learning opportunities for a diverse population of adult learners in Saudi Arabia. The acquisition of practical knowledge and applicable skills will greatly enhance their opportunities for career advancement in their chosen fields. Prince Sultan University was established to provide graduate level education to individuals of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who want to achieve career education goals. In developing and implementing the present curriculum, Prince Sultan University has recognized the following: The curriculum should be designed to fit the needs of the students and is being reviewed frequently and updated as necessary to remain with emerging practices. A primary focus of the University is to respond to the needs of the students and to ensure that the students have the best opportunity to learn the skills they need to succeed in their chosen fields. Another Primary focus of the University will be to maintain a very good relationship between the student and the faculty staff members. Meantime Saudi undergraduate and graduate students are now able to go on scholarships to study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. An agreement between Prince Sultan University in Riyadh and Oxford took place this year to accept Saudi students to study humanities in the United Kingdom. Majors included in the scholarship program are English, classic and new languages, comparative linguistics, oriental studies, law, European law, political and economic science, archaeology and anthropology, history and modern history and geography. In addition to medical fellowship studies and the other majors that were included in last year's scholarships, such as, nursing, engineering, radiology, health sciences, medical laboratories and technologies, mathematics, physics, chemistry, law, computer, e-commerce and accounting, the ministry will offer more majors for all levels of higher education, from bachelor to Ph.D. The new majors for the year 2006-2007 are classical and new languages, oriental studies, European law, English language, political science and economic science. The Ministry of Higher Education has implemented a new rule for students who will start their studies in January, February and March. These students will have to turn in their latest original diplomas in order to finalize the procedure for obtaining the scholarship. The new rule was implemented to ensure the commitment of students to studying in the US. Previously, some students would submit their diplomas to Saudi universities before going to the US in case they decide to drop out and return to continue their studies back home. |
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