On Tuesday 16, February, 2016 the University of Dammam, the department of Business Administration from the College of Applied Studies and Community Service held a graduation ceremony for its first group of inmate graduates. The ceremony was held in Al Khobar Prison. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Abdullah Al Rubaish President of the University of Dammam, Ibrahim Mohamed Al Hamzi President of the Kingdom’s Prisons, Saad Mohamed Al Otaibi President of the Eastern Province Prison, Dr. Bander Al Amer Dean of E-Learning and Distance Learning, Dr. Saad Al Amri Dean of Information and Communication Technology, Dr. Sami Abdullah Al-Bahussain Dean of the College of Applied Studies and Community Service, and a number of officers from Al Dammam and Al Khobar prisons.
The President of the University of Dammam, Dr. Abdullah Al Rubaish stated that “the University of Dammam seeks to provide all the means of guidance and assistance for inmate students who seek to gain education and knowledge. What inmate students have presented in the Distance Learning program shows their determination in overcoming the obstacles of prison life, this achievement is definitely a source of happiness and pride for the University of Dammam because we were able to prove that this initiative could be developed and could succeed. Surely this is a motivation to continue through with this initiative with our partners from the prison administration and Abdulrahman Saleh Al Rajhi & Family Charity Foundation.
The President of the Kingdom’s Prisons, Ibrahim Mohamed Al Hamzi mentioned that “we seek to the achieve the image that our leaders call for which is to continuously develop programs, to measure their performance, and to rehabilitate and reform programs that don’t yield to any bureaucratic aspects. We dearly support this initiative and today we are very happy with our graduates and this is a lesson for all inmates to follow suit and gain as much knowledge and education they can.
The General Directorate of Prisons with the guidance of the Crown Prince, Minister of Interior Affairs HRH Prince Mohamed bin Naif is working on rehabilitating inmates according to foundations, scientific and reform programs which aim at changing, cultivating and to refining inmate’s behavior to be able to adapt in the community after their sentence is over. The educational program in prisons are one of the most important programs that the Ministry of Interior Affairs seeks to provide for inmate in order to encourage them to enroll in educational programs.
The ceremony started with a commencement speech where the valedictorian advised his fellow graduate’s to be studious in order to gain unconditional knowledge. The valedictorian also gave thanks to all the sponsoring agencies that made it possible for them to gain their degree. After that, a welcoming poem was recited. Then a speech was given from Turki Al Rajhi, the representative of Abdulrahman Saleh Al Rajhi & Family Charity Foundation, he mentioned that “providing educational support for inmates is one of the foundation’s interests in order to prepare individuals who will be active members in the community. Therefore, Benaa Center that is affiliated with the foundation established a miniature educational training program that today we are witnessing one of its outcomes. Also, Al Rajhi added that “we have coordinated with the Human Resource Development Fund to pave the way for released inmates to find jobs. Finally, the certificates were granted to the graduates, 5 new Muslims and 5 Qur’an hafiz’s were honored then the partners exchanged memorial gifts.
