JEDDAH, 16 September 2005 — Saudi Arabia will provide financial assistance worth SR56.9 million for a number of Palestinian educational programs and help Palestinian students complete their higher education.
Interior Minister Prince Naif, supervisor of the Saudi Committee for the Relief of Palestinians (SCRP), on Wednesday signed an agreement with UNESCO to implement the programs in coordination with the Palestinian Higher Education Ministry.
SCRP’s financial assistance will cover 75 percent tuition fees (SR43 million) of 15,989 boy and girl students as well as 75 percent tuition fees (SR6 million) of 1,747 community college students, said a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. Of the total amount, SR8 million will be set aside to support 11 Palestinian universities and colleges, it added.
Dr. Saed Al-Harithy, adviser to Prince Naif and chairman of the committee, said the signing of the MOU with UNESCO and the Palestinian ministry is in line with the Kingdom’s continuous support for the Palestinian people.
He said the grants offered by the committee would help thousands of Palestinian students to complete their higher education. “SCRP’s financial aid will help Palestinian universities carry out their educational programs,” he explained.
The committee intends to extend all possible assistance to the Palestinians through 36 relief and humanitarian programs, he said. The panel has already spent more than SR728.56 million on these projects.
SCRP implemented 35 programs to support the Palestinians at a total cost of SR730 million, Harithy said. The amount was spent on hospitals, medicine, medical appliances, ambulances, treatment of wounded Palestinians in Saudi hospitals, and supplying 50 dialysis units. “We have also dispatched 30 Palestinian students for higher studies abroad,” he pointed out.
Financial aid was also given for establishing computer centers, desalination plants and schools as well as water and electricity networks. “We have repaired 2,545 houses in West Bank, constructed 600 housing units in Gaza and distributed more than a million baskets of food,” he said.
The committee also distributes sacrificial meat, clothing and blankets among the Palestinians. It has paid salaries to a large number of workers in order to boost Palestinian economy. It also carried out another project worth SR13.5 million to supply things required by some 90,000 Palestinian students including schoolbags and textbooks.
