Saudi dad, son come together at literacy class

Cairo: A Saudi schoolteacher, taking part in a local literacy course, has a reason to celebrate: his father is one of his students.

“My happiness is beyond description,” said teacher Hassan Al Eisi, who teaches at a summer literacy course at a government-run centre in the Saudi coastal city of Al Qunfudhah.

“I’m particularly happy because one of those attending this course is my father who shows a more wonderful response along with others to my efforts than his reaction when I previously tried to reach him alone, “ he told the Saudi news portal Sabq. “This campaign (course) has motivated him to show more interest and learn faster.”

On his side, the father is doubly happy. “God has bestowed double happiness on me at this campaign: first by learning reading, writing and math; the second by having my son as my teacher. This has made me feel proud and happy,” he said.

Saudi media has recently carried stories of people resuming their studies in the kingdom after a long absence and doing well.

One of them is Nuda Al Qahtani, a 110-year-old Saudi woman, a resident of Bisha in the Asir region in southern Saudi Arabia.

Her old age did not stop her from attending a summer literacy course in her hometown.

“My mother feels happy for getting this chance. She has seized it to learn about her religion matters and shared with her old colleagues the pleasure of learning,” her son Mohammed Mesfr told Al Arabiya TV recently.

In June, a social media video showed another Saudi woman and her daughter graduating from the same university in central Saudi Arabia on the same day.

In the footage, the woman and her daughter are seen wearing the graduation gowns at Qassim University.

Moreover, a Saudi woman aged 70 has reportedly obtained a BA degree in sociology with honours.

The woman, identified as Salwa Al Omani, had returned to studies after a 46-year hiatus and graduated from the Iman Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University based in the eastern city of Dammam.