A Commendable Effort by the Saudi King

So as it is my habit to read NY times almost everyday…thanks to the free papers for everyone at my college, I want to share one of the cover stories on the front page. It is actually not about any bombings or people killed in the Middle East but about an effort by the Saudi King Abdullah to build a “ginormous” university complex in Jiddah.

His highness of Saudi Arabia has finally realized that the region (Muslim countries) is lacking in top-notch research institutions, where things are done on a scale worth world-wide recognition.

Read the full article here: Saudi King Tries to Grow Modern Ideas in Desert

Well, I am glad that something of this magnitude is being thought of by the Saudi King to make a difference in the educational atmosphere of the country.

I think the effort is a rather expensive, extensive and liberal one BUT one has to begin somewhere for change to come about in that narrow minded society of Saudi Arabia.

The thing that is special about this university is that it will be a lot more modern in thinking and application than the current ones of Saudi Arabia. It will not be an institution hindered by the religious extremism of the country that limits free thinking and coeducation.

“Its planners say men and women will study side by side in an enclave walled off from the rest of Saudi society, the country’s notorious religious police will be barred and all religious and ethnic groups will be welcome in a push for academic freedom and international collaboration sure to test the kingdom’s cultural and religious limits.
This undertaking is directly at odds with the kingdom’s religious establishment, which severely limits women’s rights and rejects coeducation and robust liberal inquiry as unthinkable. ”

At the same time though there are things that people in Saudi Arabia, other university professors and experts, are skeptical about. I mean they like the idea but they want to know that will it actually change Saudi Arabian educational landscape and involve their own students and professors too, or is this university to cater to outsiders only. They want this to be a place for people of Saudi origin can also come and work where there are no religious hindrances for their scientific endeavors or socializing between the sexes is not banned.

I praise the King for supporting this cause for open minded educational establishment that his religious supporters (the extremely religious ones) are at odds with. I hope he realizes that slowly the country needs to become more accepting of the ideals of equal rights for the sexes and that coeducation and sharing of opinions, ideas and socializing between the sexes is NOT at odds with our religion.

I think traditions and beliefs are what need to be changed in Saudi Arabia. There are numerous people who do not agree with the current religious views that limit such things as the right for women to drive or students to be able to sit in classrooms without partition between males and females (the classrooms in public Saudi Universities have separate doors for women and men and they are also somehow divided --personally, I don’t know how as I haven’t come across this in Pakistan).

This university that is being built will be through private endeavors that are supported by the government too but the money will be supplied by different organizations. Slowly, change is on the way, I HOPE and PRAY!!!

Yeah, SO…I am glad to read of this hopeful endeavor being undertaken in Saudi Arabia for education and research. Seriously, I hope they succeed in making it a university that does make an impact on the world and on the Saudi people too, so that they realize they have to keep up with progressive and modern ideas of this century.

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