AS the year reaches its end, I decided to look at my last year’s columns and see what were the main concerns and issues that stirred discussion. While looking at my long list I noted to myself that some things have actually changed and are still being discussed, with hints being dropped at what might be solutions, and others are being tackled with serious steps while others have not changed.
For example, the issue of women voting has been developing and had some interesting results with the election of women to the Saudi Engineers Council and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry boards of managers.
While I was basking in the glow of satisfaction at some successes of my countrymen and women, an article caught my eye and mocked me. The minister of education again came out with the dreaded confirmation that will save our society from all the forces of evil: “Girls will not have PE in their schools”.
The Ministry of Education issued a press release saying that the rumors that girl’s schools will have PE classes soon were baseless and misleading. The press release added a reprimand aimed at newspapers that have entertained the hope of the development by reminding the press that: “Media sources have a religious and civil responsibility toward the citizens and the country’s official establishment and that they have to maintain the professional integrity and honesty when reporting.”
A stiff reprimand indeed and one that is correct only if deserved. However, the press does not deserve such a strong reprimand. Instead, the press release should really have taken to task those who do not want girls in this country to lead a normal life.
And if truth be told, we do need to know the real reason why the ministry insists, in a time when our educational system is not functioning properly, and not doing what it is supposed to do, to waste their time and energy with these quixotic battles to prove a mysterious point and to keep up an unfair tradition.
A few days after this story was printed another one appeared in Al-Watan newspaper and it was talking about a seminar that opened in Taif two days ago. The items reads: “The Taif governor inaugurated a seminar on physical education sponsored by the Ministry of Education. That also reflects the theme of the year set by the United Nations that made the year 2005 a year for sports and health.
“At the event, the director of the Student Activities at the ministry gave a lecture on the importance of nutrition and exercise, stressing that exercise solves many health problems students have.
“The day went on with more lectures about youth and sports and the effect of sports on developing one’s personality, and about ways to improve the activities at schools and ended with a lecture on obesity and introvert students.
“The seminar had lectures by 12 academicians and it aimed at spreading the awareness of the importance of PE in the development of students’ personalities and to inform the teachers of the latest in that area.”
This is the story and for me it is good, and the ministry is thinking in the right direction by discussing what is good for the physical and mental well-being of the students. All is well so far until we realize that this seminar was talking only about BOYS. This is when our problem with it should begin. It is infuriating and rubs an annoying fact in our faces: That we do not treat our children equally, that we succumb to an unreasonable pressure to deny our girls a right that we seem to think highly of.
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A YEAR ago exactly, the Saudi Telecom Company decided to block television viewers from Saudi Arabia from voting for the Star Academy TV program, and still people managed to vote for the Saudi contestant and he won.
This year Mobily is joining the battle for Saudi morals and is allegedly preventing its subscribers from sending SMS messages to the same program. The problem is not with the program, which in all seriousness does not deserve all that much attention. But the problem lies in the persistence of the censorship mentality that is not going to work in this age of satellites.
I wish we had the energy to deal with more persistent problems that mobile phone users have with their companies, and I have to repeat what I wrote a year ago that the STC or Mobily for that matter “should care about what their customers want — basically they ought to realize that what their customers really want and need is good service rather than a free moral guide with every line.”
