Dar Al-Hekma Students Required to Put In 100 Hours Social Work

Author: 
Lulwa Shalhoub, Arab News
Publication Date: 
Mon, 2007-04-02 03:00

JEDDAH, 2 April 2007 — In an attempt to raise awareness of the importance of social responsibility, Dar Al-Hekma College for Women has set, starting this semester, a requirement of 100 hours work for graduation. This is part of the vision of the college’s new community service department that will cooperate with local charitable societies.

Dar Al-Hekma recently held a conference under the support of Princess Seeta bint Abdullah, the aim of which was to discuss how and what both students and the members of the societies could contribute.

Forty local societies had booths in the college entrance hall. They introduced their activities to students who chose to register their names in order to fulfill the 100-hour work requirement for graduation. The 100 hours over the five-year course amount to five hours in each semester.

“This is a great opportunity for us students to gain a wider view of our society and take part in helping people in need, especially children,” said Hend Al-Suairy, an 18-year-old freshman at the college. Al-Suairy registered in several societies and among them is the Dallah Society for Children With Cancer.

Nadia Baeshen, director of the social services department at Dallah Albaraka group, spoke of the service that could be done for prisoners who have been jailed for unpaid debts.

“Sometimes the system seems to oppose social services. It takes forever to get permission to visit prisoners here and find out what cases need help and their debts paid in order to get them released from jail,” she said.

Hissa Al-Angary, director of the Rehabilitation Center supervised by the Ministry of Social Affairs, called on more students to volunteer in the center in order to train and serve. “We give them both theoretical and practical training in order to test their abilities to deal with handicapped people and get a certificate,” Al-Angary explained.

She pointed out that King Abdulaziz University, the only government-run university in Jeddah, does not offer degrees in special education and that it is a major need all over the Kingdom.

Princess Seeta called upon educators to make sure that the school subjects are taught in an interesting and beneficial way.

“The problem is that I can talk about projects and ideas but cannot implement them since I am the daughter of the king. My father still considers me his youngest daughter and he listens to educators more than me,” she observed with a touch of humor.

Baeshen said that punishment for young men who are found guilty of speeding and other traffic violations could be replaced with beneficial programs rather than sending them to prison. She said that Dallah was planning to start awareness courses at Dallah Driving School.

Faten Al-Yafi, manager of corporate social responsibility at Savola Group, gave some examples of the programs her company has for serving society. “Panda Supermarket, which is a subdivision of Savola, has hired many youths with different handicaps,” Al-Yafi pointed out.

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