Citing the example of a school, with 250 students, providing SR5 per student as assistance to nine poor students at a Riyadh school recently, the prince said, “What we are providing them is extremely low.”
However, the prince attributed the insignificant aid provided by the school to the nine students to low income of the school, including the fact that even the returns from school canteen were poor, Al-Madinah daily reported on Friday.
A new organization called the Charitable Takaful Foundation with Prince Faisal as chairman will take care of the needs of the poor students across the Kingdom. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah through a royal order in June has allocated an annual grant of SR500 million to the foundation.
The foundation will replace the existing Takaful Fund for Employees of the Ministry of Education, which is being wound up for lack of funds, the minister said.
The foundation will conduct workshops to draw up its bylaws and strategies and will set up a investment company and other endowments to generate more revenue for its charitable activities. The foundation will also organize technical and employment training to students in collaboration with the government and private sectors, the newspaper reported.
The training programs will be scheduled in such a way that they do not affect the beneficiaries’ other academic pursuits.
The foundation will also accept monthly donations from employees and individuals. The foundation will continue the aid distributed to poor students by the Takaful Fund and will study unification of all aid activities under a single department.
The foundation will also insist that any financial aid given to students should be in the form of crossed checks. Only in extremely urgent situations or if the amount is insignificant would the payment be made in cash.
The foundation’s subcommittees will be set up in provincial headquarters of the directorate of education with the director as chairman and six members. There will also be committees in each boys and girls school with the principal as chairman and six teachers as members.
The provincial director of education will have to collect information about all needy boys and girls from school principals in three months so that necessary aid could reach the deserving candidates as early as possible. No delay in passing information would be tolerated.
The foundation will also insist that no money be sent to school principals for students’ aid and this assistance should not be spent on any other purpose. The foundation will also see that each needy student gets the aid money one month before the end of the current academic year, the report said.
