JEDDAH, 4 July 2006 — As the summer break is in full swing, Saudi youths are flocking to Education Ministry summer programs that typically involve a lot of sport activities. But this year parents are wondering if their kids might pick up a little more than an ability to bend it like Beckham.
The summer clubs are offering for the first time courses in dialogue and tolerance. The ministry collaborated with the King Abdul Aziz Dialogue Center, which is host to regular nationally televised forums where various Saudi social constituencies — from youths to professors to imams — meet to discuss the current and future priorities of the Kingdom.
The center trained up to 250 counselors who have since fanned out across the country to educate children and teens in the art of constructive communication and debate.
Abdullah Al-Saghan, the director of the center’s training unit, said the goal of the program is to “correct” some problems when Saudis communicate between each other and with outsiders, including other Arabs, non-Arab Muslims, non-Muslims and Westerners.
In a previous National Dialogue Center forum, participants heavily criticized the Education Ministry’s curriculum, describing the religious programs as biased.
While the participants were allowed to discuss their criticisms freely, the ministry did not comment on the remarks made during the forum.
“It’s very crucial to spread this message in the primary educational sector, because youths represent such a large sector of the population,” said Al-Saghan.
“Dialogue is characteristic of our Islamic heritage,” he said.
“It was a unique experience,” said educator Adel Al-Oudah from Al-Jouf region about the training course, saying that he is now passing his knowledge of effective dialogue to his colleagues and of course to the students attending the summer clubs. “I’m giving a two-day workshop in four clubs in the region.”
He said that the first day of the teacher-training part of the program entails outlining the idea of constructive dialogue, including forming sound claims and listening to responses.
The second day involves practicing these theories through debates.
“I’ll choose any case/problem that will probably have solutions, present it to the students and let them debate about it in two separate teams,” said Al-Oudah.
Educator Ibrahim Al-Zahrani from Al-Baha said that he wished that the teacher-training course lasted longer than two days, but that he said he learned enough to pass something along to the kids.
“Many universities have approached us to collaborate with them and train them in dialogue skills,” said Al-Saghan.
