One measure of the quality of an education is how well it helps in gaining employment. By that standard, the Saudi education system is not up to scratch. Arab News reports that most employers see a foreign university education as a strong plus when it comes to hiring. Some argue that ‘an education is an education’, but many seem to think that even the exposure to foreign ways provides a competitive edge over those wholly educated in the Kingdom. As it’s Saudis who are doing the hiring, it’s Saudis who are giving a vote of no-confidence in the current educational system. This, of course, is one of the factors behind the urgent moves to reform Saudi education.
For centuries, vast parts of Saudi Arabia were essentially cut off from international intercourse. The result was a bit of xenophobia, resistance to change, and a rather smug attitude of ‘If it didn’t come from here, it can’t be worth much.’ Since the early days of modern Saudi Arabia, the government has been struggling to bring modernity to the country, though its preferred model—modernization without change—was impossible. The result has been a developed education system that clearly values the old ways, but in doing so it misses out on both technical and social skills that are critical in today’s global economy.
According to the article, it doesn’t seem to make much difference where one studies, as long as it’s outside the Kingdom. That is a serious indictment of the current system.
Graduates with foreign degrees have better openings in job market
Laura Bashraheel | Arab NewsJEDDAH: Last week, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah extended the “King Abdullah Scholarship Program” by another five years. Studying abroad provides students with the skills needed in this era of globalization and economic prosperity in the Kingdom, and Saudis have long appreciated the value of studying aboard, something that has long been seen as a way of securing good employment. Whether this is true or not is another matter.
According to the Ministry of Higher Education, there are 62,241 Saudi students, both male and female, studying abroad. Although the Saudi higher education system has developed rapidly to meet Saudi job market needs, including the increased establishment of universities in the Kingdom, many students still prefer to study abroad.
Competition in the workplace has led to calls for higher standards in educational development, and Saudi Arabia, being a country with huge potential and vast resources, has been faced with new challenges in education.
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There’s a long, global history of the unanticipated consequences of introducing animals into a new environment. Among the many nuisances in the US, for example, there are starlings (imported because some clown thought it would be nice if the US had all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare), nutria (imported as a potential source of fur), and tropical reptiles like boas and monitor lizards (imported as pets and now a problem in southern Florida). Australia is famous for the problems that came from the introduction of both rabbits and cane toads. Less known to most, though, is Australia’s growing problem with camels.
Camels were introduced to Australia in the 19th and early 20th C. as a proposed solution to transportation across vast desert terrain. Their putative role was done in by the advent of the automobile and trucking. No one bothered to address the question of what to do with the now redundant camels, though. As a result, herds were simply released where they spread widely. They are now considered a serious problem, even in some Australian cities. Rather than culling the herds (i.e., killing them) there’s a proposal to send them to Saudi Arabia. Some of the camels’ ancestral lines may have come from the Kingdom (Wikipedia suggests that most, though, came from India), so perhaps it’s a homecoming of sorts. But, as Arab News reports, it’s not going to be cheap or easy to ship them across the Indian Ocean.
Currently, Saudi Arabia imports camels, chiefly from Sudan or Egypt. These camels largely serve the meat market, though of course there are other uses depending on the breed and individual animals (See Saudi Spin on Beauty Contests). I suspect the Australian camels, should they ever arrive, will be sorted into the similar classes.
Australians keen to send camels to Kingdom
Hassna’a Mokhtar | Arab NewsJEDDAH: Australians have welcomed the proposal to send their wild camels to Saudi camel-lovers instead of shooting them. At the same time, they warned that the process of transferring the animals would be expensive.
Some Saudis have initiated an Internet campaign calling for the transportation of Australian camels to the Kingdom. The initiative followed an announcement by the Australian government that it would use helicopters and marksmen to corral and kill 6,000 feral camels in a small northern town.
“The cull is unfortunate. We’re happy to put Saudis in touch with camel exporting companies in Australia. However, it’s very expensive to bring them to Saudi Arabia,” said Michael Kavanagh, counselor and senior trade commissioner of the Australian Embassy in the Kingdom.
In order to transport the camels, there are logistical problems to be considered such as the lack of roads, the vast desert distances and the large size and number of the animals. Kavanagh said his office in Australia was producing some figures on how much it would cost to transport the camels to Saudi Arabia.
“Australians don’t want to see camels die. We’re willing to look at available options,” he added.
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Saudi Gazette/Okaz update the information available on the latest child marriage case to hit the Saudi courts. The court in Buraida has asked to speak with the 12-year-old girl to hear her side of the story. It has already heard from the mother’s attorney and the father as well as the 80-year-old husband.
I somehow get a sense that this is the case that will push the Ulema to come to a clear decision on what constitutes a minimum age for women/girls to be married. The article quotes senior Islamic scholar (and member of the Ulema) saying that the Prophet’s marriage to a young Aisha took place 1,400 years ago, under very different social conditions. As such, it should not be used to rationalize the continued practice of child marriage.
12-year-old bride to testify, court delays verdict
Majed Al-Marshad and Solieman Al-NahabiBURAIDA – A court here has delayed its verdict into the marriage of an 80-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl until next Monday, so that it can first hear testimony from the bride.
Judge Ibrahim Al-Omar had earlier listened to the arguments of the child’s lawyer Saleh Al-Dabibi, who was hired by the Muwada Charity Organization headed by Princess Sara Bint Musa’ed Bin Abdul Aziz.
Al-Dabibi called for an immediate divorce between the two and for punishment to be meted out to the child’s father and the 80-year-old husband.
“This marriage does not meet the conditions of legal consent of the bride,” he said. He called for the courts to remove the father as the legal guardian of the daughter as per Islamic rulings in these types of cases.
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Saudi Gazette runs a compilation of news agency stories announcing that the Houthi infiltrators along Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen have called for a ceasefire and will withdraw their forces from the Kingdom. The Houthi struggle with the Yemeni government is only one of the problematic issues for Saudi Arabia, though. That with Al-Qaeda, which has set up its Arabian Peninsula headquarters in Yemen, is still volatile and dangerous.
Infiltrators announce withdrawal
SANA’A – The leader of Houthis announced Monday the withdrawal of infiltrators from positions they had been occupying inside Saudi Arabia since fighting broke out in November.
Offering a ceasefire to the Kingdom, he said that the infiltrators would withdraw from the Kingdom’s territory to avoid more civilian casualties.
“To avoid more bloodshed and to stop aggression on civilians … we offer this initiative,” Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi said in an audio recording posted on the Internet.
“We announce our full withdrawal from all Saudi territory,” he said.
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There appears to be a confluence of forces that may spell a change in the way Saudi Arabia deals with domestic workers. We all know of cases of abuse of maids and other domestics. We also know that some foreign workers play with loopholes (or create them) to their own advantage. Some countries insist that their citizens taking domestic jobs receive a minimum wage. Others completely ban their citizens from applying for these jobs.
Now, Arab News reports, the Saudi government is considering banning the hiring of domestic labor from a handful of countries. It cites the unpreparedness of these workers to deal with Saudi conditions (assuming a ‘normal’, not ‘normally abusive’ condition, of course).
Perhaps it is time for Saudi society to re-think its addiction to domestic workers. Prior to WWII, about a quarter of American families had one or more domestic workers. During the war, labor shortages took many of those out of that particular market and put them into other labor markets. Most never returned. This was helped by the advent of inexpensive, labor-saving devices like washing machines and dishwashers. Those technologies now exist abundantly in the Kingdom. The real sticking point seems to be the large size of Saudi families necessitating more hands to do the work. There’s a simple answer to that.
Housemaids’ issue heats up
K.S. Ramkumar | Arab NewsJEDDAH: There is a move on the part of Saudi authorities to stop housemaids coming from certain countries. “We are serious in imposing a ban on the import of housemaids from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam,” said Ali Al-Quraishi, vice president of the local Labor Recruitment Committee.
“The main reason for considering such a ban is that the labor recruiters in those countries are not qualified enough to supply housemaids that suit the local culture and tradition. There is no proper selection process of housemaids to suit this market, nor are they given orientation before they leave their countries,” he added.
Al-Quraishi said local employers have found that maids from these countries make no effort to adapt to local conditions. “They don’t even show any inclination to cope with local traditions and culture,” he said. “We have decided to be extra-careful when dealing with such foreign labor, especially after some reports that housemaids were involved in child murders and incidents of violence,” he added.
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Arab News notes that Saudi education is being revolutionized. In this piece, it reports on the overall changes and focuses on what’s happening at King Abdulaziz University in Riyadh. It’s interesting to find that there are student exchange programs in place with Spain. Those might be broadened. Too, the focus seems to be on business and technology. I think Saudi Arabia is in dire need of good humanities programs, liberal arts. There is yet to be a single American Studies program in any Saudi university, which I find puzzling. Universities across the globe have regional studies programs because as the world becomes more and more interdependent, knowing how ‘the other’ works becomes more and more critical.
I do applaud the changes, though. They are a market improvement over the past and will play a role in preparing Saudis for the modern world and finding jobs in it.
Education: A revolution is under way
Muhammad Humaidan | Arab NewsUnder the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia is currently undergoing a revolution in education.
Vigorous efforts are being made to upgrade education at all levels, from primary to higher studies and research.
The government is making huge investments and seeking the cooperation of domestic and international educational institutions to upgrade the Kingdom’s academic quality.
Thousands of students are being sent abroad on scholarship programs to pursue higher education.
King Abdullah, who realizes the vital role played by education and knowledge in establishing the Kingdom at the forefront of developing countries, has allocated huge funds to expand existing universities and establish new centers of higher education and research.
Older universities are under pressure to replace their outdated curriculums with modern ones that will enable Saudi youths to face the challenges of the modern job markets and eventually phase out foreign manpower.
“Like other universities in the Kingdom, King Abdulaziz University (KAU) has undergone a sea change with updated buildings, laboratories and trained manpower, enabling it to achieve international academic accreditation,” Osama Tayeb, the university president said.
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While most Saudi students are apparently taking the TSA’s revised security screening in stride, not all of them are. Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that some are very offended and that the National Society of Human Rights thinks them offensive to the dignity of Saudis.
I’ll just note a couple of points about the complaint made by the first Saudi covered here. First, being asked about membership in terrorist organizations is a legal ploy. If one says that he is not a member while actually being a member, he has committed a prosecutable crime. No further criminal action is necessary to effect an arrest. The police don’t need to wait to catch him with bomb materials or plotting an attack: they have him for perjury on a sworn statement. (American style diva Martha Stewart found herself in prison for ostensibly lying to investigators, so it’s not a toothless tactic.)
The second point is that anyone entering the US—of American or other nationality—can have his computer files checked. It’s not just terroristic materials that are the subject of searches; Child porn and other illicit materials are frequently caught. US courts have determined that the 4th Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches without probable cause, does not extend beyond the borders of the US. For travelers, the border starts inside the Immigration and Customs desks.
As for the NSHR, well… I do believe there are human rights violations taking place within the Kingdom which might more usefully take the focus of the organization.
USA airport security checks ‘humiliating’ for Saudis: NSHR
Siham Al-ZunaidiMICHIGAN/RIYADH – “Do you have any relationship with terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and the Mujahideen Army?”
This is one of the many questions that United States investigators ask Saudi students when they arrive in the country. Many students have complained that this type of treatment infringes on their dignity.
Now the National Society of Human Rights (NSHR) in the Kingdom has also slammed the measures as an infringement on the dignity and rights of Saudis, under international law.
Fahd Al-Jabr, a political science and international relations student, said he was subjected to a complicated body search at Detroit Airport recently.
Al-Jabr, who has stayed in the US for four years without incident said: “I was interrogated by five investigators – three civilians and two military personnel. They asked provocative questions including a question about whether I had a relationship with terrorist organizations. The most difficult was the body search, which was humiliating and inhumane.”
Al-Jabr said that all his personal files on his laptop were copied by the investigators without his permission. He was astonished that neither the investigators nor the inspection staff apologized for their behavior.
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Arab News reports that the latest instance of a child marriage in the Kingdom is drawing legal attention. The judge who performed the marriage is on his way to official suspension, the paper says, and another court is looking into annulling the marriage.
Official in child bride case faces suspension
Walaa Hawari | Arab NewsRIYADH: A source at the governmental Human Rights Commission informed Arab News on Saturday that the marriage official who authorized the marriage of a 12-year-old girl and an 80-year-old man will be suspended.
The HRC said the man officiated the marriage in Buraidah without the girl’s consent or even checking her age.
The official denied in a local newspaper that he violated any regulations and that he has not been provided any instructions on marrying girls of her age.
The case had stirred many concerns in the Saudi society, as the father of the 12-year-old girl married her off to his 80-year-old cousin in exchange for an SR85,000 dowry.
According to Al-Riyadh newspaper, the father claims he based his judgment on the child’s physical development and not her age. The girl’s mother was against the marriage, but had no say in the matter, according to the report.
Meanwhile, a court in Buraidah is looking into the annulment of the marriage. An announcement is reportedly to be made on Monday.
Five years ago, Saudi Arabia ventured into a new area: municipal councils comprised of both elected and appointed officers who would serve four-year terms and be responsible for municipal direction. The effort did not fare well. First off, women were not permitted to either vote or hold positions on the councils. Second, the roles the councils and their members would play was never clearly defined. The next cycle of elections was postponed and we’re now seeing council members in their fifth year of office.
Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that new laws are being drafted concerning the councils and elections. Notably, women are not excluded from the list of voters—though in Saudi Arabia, this does not mean that they will not be stopped from participating. There’s no law that prohibits women’s driving, after all.
Still, the draft laws do appear to grant more authority and autonomy to the councils. I think this a prerequisite to effective civil governance. If the councils serve as no more than figurehead or bookmark offices, then they have no utility beyond the minor one of providing jobs to a few hundred people. If, however, the councils gain authority and concomitant responsibility for their actions, then they will serve an important role in defining the future of representative government in the Kingdom.
Prison and fines for vote-rigging and bribes
Mit’eb Al-Awwad and Thamer GamgoomHAIL/AR’AR – A draft law was tabled here Saturday that seeks to completely overhaul the powers and functions of the Kingdom’s 179 municipal councils, including harsh penalties for vote rigging and other violations and an increased emphasis on public accountability.
The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has sent the draft law to all council members across the country for their input. The document is expected to be discussed behind closed doors in preparation for submission to the ministry and then final approval by the Council of Ministers.
The proposed legislation consists of 38 articles dealing with the formation of municipal councils, accountability to the public, electoral processes, its powers and functions and penalties for offenders.
The law stipulates a jail penalty and a fine for those who buy votes and give gifts to gain influence. The articles bar judges, notaries public and investors from being nominated for positions on councils because of a possible conflict of interest. One of the articles bars the mayors of the regions and the heads of municipalities from becoming chairmen or acting chairmen of municipal councils and bans them from voting on any decisions taken by councils.
One of the most prominent features of the law is the proposal to grant greater autonomy and independence to municipal councils, so that they can carry out their supervisory role more effectively.
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Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that inconveniences to Saudi students following the attempt to bomb a US airliner around Christmastime is not an issue, that they are overplayed in the media.
Security ‘no big deal’ for Saudi students in US
Abdulmuhsin Al-HarthiRIYADH – The Deputy Higher Education Minister for Foreign Scholarship Programs at the Ministry of Higher Education has said that the media has been making “too big a deal” over increased security at airports in the United States.
“Saudi students in the US have not undergone any special or personal searches at airports,” said Undersecretary Abdullah Al-Mousa Friday. “The media’s blowing it all up out of proportion.”
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In its most recent analysis, the Gallup polling company reports that American prejudice against Muslims has grown. The poll was taken after the Ft. Hood shootings, but before the Christmastime attempt to bomb an American airliner. You can download the entire report (36-page PDF document) from this link.
In U.S., Religious Prejudice Stronger Against Muslims
43% of Americans admit to feeling some prejudice toward followers of Islam
Analysis by the Gallup Center for Muslim StudiesWASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 4 in 10 Americans (43%) admit to feeling at least “a little” prejudice toward Muslims — more than twice the number who say the same about Christians (18%), Jews (15%) and Buddhists (14%). The findings are based on a new Gallup Center for Muslim Studies report, “Religious Perceptions in America: With an In-Depth Analysis of U.S. Attitudes Toward Muslims and Islam,” released Thursday.
Interestingly, the strongest indicator of prejudice against Muslims is prejudice against Jews, the report says. It also notes that most Americans admit that they don’t know very much about Islam. In fact, they have little knowledge of religions other than Christianity, a not-unreasonable situation given the Christian background of most Americans. The study supports the conclusion that American attitudes are framed by media coverage and Muslims are the most frequently cited religious group, usually in a negative context. This context is not editorial, but due to coverage of bad events that involve Muslims.
Muslim attitudes toward women also plays a role in casting Muslims in general into a bad light in the US. That survey in Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan say that equal rights for women is important, that is not the message that’s getting through.
On a more encouraging note, 70% of respondents say that Muslims do want peace.
I do suggest you read the entire report. It’s not terribly long, but it is rather important.
While it seeks to tighten some marriage laws—setting a minimum age for marriage, for example—the Saudi government also seems to be looking for ways to loosen other rules. According to this Arab News article, a revised draft law is now circulating that would significantly loosen—but not do away with—laws that regulate how Saudis marry foreigners. Certain classes of Saudis, including members of the royal family and of security organizations, face the tightest restrictions. Others, including women, will find it easier to marry at least some foreigners. Of course, there’s no change to the prohibition of Saudi women marrying non-Muslims.
The laws, if they come to pass, will make life easier for many Saudis and their foreign betrothed. It’s still advantageous, though, for a Saudi to be engaged to someone already in the Kingdom legally.
Kingdom drafts revised marriage law
P.K. Abdul Ghafour | Arab NewsJEDDAH: The government is set to relax regulations governing the marriages between Saudis and non-Saudis. A revised draft law prepared by the Interior Ministry and the Cabinet’s Committee of Experts allows government ministers, judges, Shoura members and students on foreign scholarships to marry non-Saudi women.
The new law, which replaces the old one issued 38 years ago, should be passed by the Council of Ministers. According to Article One, Saudis who are allowed to marry non-Saudis include ministers, members of the judiciary and diplomats at the Foreign Ministry.
Other beneficiaries of the law are: Employees of the Royal Court, the crown prince’s court, the Council of Ministers, the National Security Council, and members of the councils and organizations chaired by the king and the crown prince, Al-Riyadh Arabic daily said.
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