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Hillarysworld -> Women's Issues -> A Saudi education was not always a blinkered one (Daily Star 8/18/10)
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TOPIC: A Saudi education was not always a blinkered one (Daily Star 8/18/10)
Jen the Michigander


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A Saudi education was not always a blinkered one (Daily Star 8/18/10)
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http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp

I found this while searching for Hillary articles. It came up because it mentions her name, but it's not about her. But I thought it was interesting, so here t'is...
What do US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s closest adviser, Qatar’s princesses and I have in common? One would think, almost nothing. But as young girls, we were all students at Saudi Arabia’s Manarat schools.

A co-educational experiment launched in the 1980s, these schools were a beacon – the English translation of manarat – for so many students. Too many schools in Saudi Arabia were just cash cows set up by expatriates, churning out sub-standard diplomas and graduates with elitist attitudes. On the other hand, there were the many Wahhabi-oriented religious schools designed to indoctrinate children without teaching them critical thinking.

The adventure began when one of a royal circle of reformers, Prince Mohammad Al-Faisal Al-Saud, launched Manarat as part of a larger vision. He drafted my parents to shape its strategic direction and Tawfiq al-Shawi, an Egyptian legal authority on democracy, championed the project among Saudi policy makers.

Manarat sought to demolish ideas of wealth, class, race and nationality in an egalitarian project which mixed expatriates from Africa, Asia and Europe with Saudi nationals, with classes in both English and Arabic. Schools across Saudi Arabia, from Al-Khobar to Jeddah, were built from the ground up with white-washed walls and cool marble floors. The daughters of laborers were taught alongside royals irrespective of race, class and wealth.

No expense was spared to create an educational institution that aimed to foster free-thinking and innovation. Teachers were flown in from around the world and offered high, tax-free salaries. New textbooks arrived each year for every student, and scholarships subsidized education for families who couldn’t afford school fees. It was never about the schools making money.

Instead, Manarat’s education was meant to overcome the odds in a region where poor literacy rates held the entire society back. The results spoke for themselves. The school’s students achieved the highest grades, according to international British standards, in the entire Middle East within the first few years of their establishment.

From families with the lowest levels of literacy, graduates left Saudi Arabia to excel in their fields, as Ivy League  doctoral students, diplomats and policy-makers. Clinton’s advisor, Huma Abedin, is one example of their many successful graduates.

Manarat schools fell into decline primarily because a policy of “Saudization” was implemented, ensuring Saudi nationals and not expatriates occupied key managerial positions. The policy of promoting Saudis made sense up to a point. But later there was no one to take the helm of Manarat. Aisha’s replacement could not adequately fill her shoes. Sadly, Manarat is now just another faltering school system.

Though today it has lost much of its exceptional quality, reflecting on its origins and intentions offers lessons for educational reform across the Gulf region. Manarat worked for years because of equality of opportunity within the student body, which is highly needed in an often segregated, regimented region; and because of a few remarkable teachers and other committed thinkers who recognized the importance of education and would set aside their time, such as Omar Abdullah Nasseef, who now is president of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Even he would sit in on teacher interviews in the leather-bound chairs of the Saudi cultural attaché’s offices.

What can Manarat’s original success teach us? As we look at schools in the Gulf, where students often learn by rote, reform can seem misdirected. Few focus on the potential that diversity and high expectations can bring. I often hear that young citizens of the Gulf are impossible to inspire and motivate. But I disagree. Manarat’s alumni were brought up to know otherwise.

If Saudi Arabia could offer such an amazing education decades ago, then the Gulf should not wait. As Manarat’s alumni know, this region can produce its own scholars.



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Direct Link for the above article.

About the author:

Habiba Hamid is a leader writer at The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi. THE DAILY STAR publishes this commentary in collaboration with the Common Ground News Service (www.commongroundnews.org) with permission from the author.

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That is a great article, worth supporting the author.

It is a bit disconcerting to me.. that Saudi actually retracted from a somewhat enlightened start to this "beacon" of an education seed.

It take many generations for people to turn from ultra conservative to moderately progressive.

We ALL can see that women in middle east are oppressed and FAR FAR from being given equal opportunity, let alone being treated equal (and of course, that latter status is not so anywhere in the world, not even in the US; as to the former, at least we have made major strides while in the final analysis, we still fall short... but we strive regardless). 

Conservative to progressive is a band that shifts greatly by where you are in geography and point in time (history).  Even most US Republicans would want progress in this regard in the Middle East.  I hope the conservatives in the middle east, and in Saudi in particular awaken soon to the reality that you cannot "hide [her] under a bushel" forever.  Women are human beings with head, heart, aspirtations and talent.

I hope to see many of the graduates of this school become beacons for Saudi and the middle east. 

Of course, Hillary has many other close advisors on middle east matters. But it is possible Habiba is referencing Huma Abadin. Huma did go to school in the middle east, but she had the benefit of parents who were educated in the US and later an upbringing in the US and then mentoring by Hillary herself. I am glad Habiba makes a reference to this bridge of a person.

And, if Hillary's name, determination, focus, tenacity and tough love in diplomacy that she has demonstrated throughout the world serves as a beacon example that motivates these women folks, more power to them... and to Hillary. 

Thanks Habiba Hamid! Knowing your hero/ideal and always do the right thing by humanity. That's what true leadership is all about.   Hillary teaches us to treat women as human beings, with dignity and respect..  and let them flourish to the highest levels of their own [] potential.   Keep that a your beacon, and you will do great.

Thank Jen for sharing.


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Jen the Michigander


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Yes, Habiba was referring to Huma Abedin.

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