RIYADH, 19 February 2006 — Some 19,000 Palestinian students will be able to pursue their education with the help of aid extended by Saudi Arabia.
“The Palestinian students will enjoy a fee remission of 75 percent during the current semester, mainly because of the $15-million grant made available by the Kingdom,” a United Nations statement said yesterday.
The Saudi Committee for the Relief of Palestinian People has donated the funds, to be used by a UNESCO program to waive tuition fees of the Palestinian students.
“The fee-waiver scheme will be finalized on Feb. 20 when the heads of 34 Palestinian institutions of higher education will sign letters of agreement with UNESCO’s office,” said the statement.
A large number of regional and international donors including Western countries are evaluating ways to support Palestinians in the wake of recent political change.
Meanwhile, the OPEC Fund for International Development recently approved a grant of $1.2 million to support the activities of 12 civil society organizations in Palestine’s Gaza Strip. The aim is to assist the poorest and hardest hit communities to meet some of their most urgent needs.
The grant will be drawn from its Special Grant Account for Palestine and extended to 12 Palestinian NGOs. The OPEC special account was set up in 2002 with an initial endowment of $10 million and has subsequently been replenished twice to boost resources to $40 million.
