Mahmoud Ahmad

 

EVERY now and then we hear warnings from people about the danger of sending our students abroad on scholarships. These people take great efforts in magnifying an isolated incident where a student commits a wrong or a wrong is committed on them. They then use the incident to become vocal about canceling the scholarship program. Such calls are coming from social and religious figures, who see our students studying abroad being exposed to clear and present danger and when they come back will possibly expose or infect others with their newly acquired thoughts and ideas.



The argument against sending students on scholarships is baseless and instigates unnecessary fear. The arguments are varied, but most of them center on acquiring corrupt practices. Some of them believe that sending students abroad will encourage moral bankruptcy, especially our girl students. While language purists argue that sending our students abroad would impact or damage their Arabic. But mostly, they claim that sending our students abroad is a danger to the religion of Islam.



I really cannot understand how sending students abroad to learn and study and gain knowledge to come back and help in developing the country is a threat. I am sure that the last thing the government wants to do is to put our students in danger. Before the King Abdullah Scholarship program was launched, officials must have thought out the great benefits that the student and country would derive from this program. Surely they would have assessed all angles in setting up the program and would be better equipped to assess the pros and cons than those who oppose it. How can we believe that gaining knowledge and education is danger?



It is unreasonable of those opposing this program to attack and accuse it falsely. They have no right to keep our people from traveling abroad and gaining knowledge and education. We know how difficult it is for our students to get accepted at our universities, especially in the last ten years, because of limited seats in major disciplines. The scholarship program proved a good option for many. It not only freed up seats in our universities by picking some of our best to study abroad, but also provided an avenue for those who could not find a place here and were ready to travel abroad for education, learn a new language and see new country, people and culture.



We saw how the scholarship program was attacked when a Saudi female student was killed in London early this year. Detractors of this program flooded the social media, blaming and accusing the program of placing our women and youth in danger. Though the incident was isolated and unfortunate, it was sad that the incident was used to attack the program. Each time an accident happens to our students abroad, the detractors use the program as ammunition to fire a fresh salvo.



Last week, a rumor circulated in social media that the wife of a Saudi student on scholarship converted to Christianity, and this canard was the basis for their attack on the program. Without verifying the source of the news, people drew battle lines in social media with opposing camps divided between those blaming the program and those who did not believe the news.



The news, thanks to social media, became widespread and the cultural attaché of the Saudi mission there had to call a press conference to quash the rumor. Usually such rumors against great projects in any country are started by a foreign enemy, but in our case it is coming from a segment of our own people. Who is benefiting from all this? Why are they doing it?

 

Detractors of this program have every right to ban their children from joining it, but they cannot be guardians over an entire society. There are many students, of both genders, who are dreaming of studying specialties that are not available in our universities. The King Abdullah Scholarship program has come as a golden opportunity for them to study and shine. We have to admit that foreign universities, in comparison to our universities, are experts in building a human being who is productive in society. That is why more local companies are keen on hiring a Saudi who studies abroad more than a student who has studied in a Saudi university.



If critics of the program see it as a means to brainwash our youth, then I would like to ask what is their opinion on direct media in every house that is directly targeting our youth. Do they consider that too as brainwashing? The scholarship program does not differentiate between males and females and has given both equal opportunities. There were many examples of Saudi male and female students shining at their universities and receiving awards. They are even in the forefront of good and innovative discoveries, especially in the medical sector. And it is a platform from which our students, on coming back, will help the country compete on the global field.



We have seen how Japan after World War II began sending their students abroad to learn and come back equipped with education and knowledge. We have also seen how they brought about a transformation in the country. We see now that Japan is a superpower and a leading country in economic world. The scholarship program too aims to equip students to develop our country when they come back, and that’s a positive thing we should all applaud and support. The critics should shift their focus from negativity to positivity, and voice only legitimate concerns. I believe, for the sake of our country, we need to continue sending student abroad while intensifying and fine-tuning the program in order to accommodate more students.

 

— The writer can be contacted at mahmad@saudigazette.com.sa. Twitter: @anajeddawi_eng