JEDDAH: The family development center in the Eastern Province has classified Saudi students as the largest category seeking consultation compared with employees in both the private and public sectors, and the unemployed and housewives, a local newspaper reported.
The center, which is affiliated with Al-Bir Charity Society in EP, said the ratio of students amounted to 38 percent of the total number of people referred to it seeking consultation, followed by housewives with 21 percent, while the ratio of government employees amounted to 19 percent.
The indicator given by the center showed that the ratio of employees in the private sector seeking consultation did not exceed 10 percent while that of the unemployed stood at 8 percent. The ratio of those employed in the free business sector came at the bottom of the list with only 3 percent, according to the report.
Students in universities topped the list of those seeking consultation with 12,589 requests, 70 percent of the total.
Students in high school followed with 4,480 requests for consultation, 25 percent, followed by students at the mid-level of study with 827 requests, about 5 percent, and last came students at the primary school level with 149 requests, amounting to only 1 percent of the total.
Dalal Jaber, an education specialist, ascribed the high ratio of students seeking help to “the increased awareness among students on the importance of consultation.”
“From my experience, I noticed that the issues students seek consultation for do not revolve around youth, family or teenage problems only. They ask about the general affairs of our everyday life, such as joining terrorist organizations, Daesh for example, and how they are persuaded to join such groups,” said the education specialist.
Jaber regarded this as evidence of “the increasing awareness of youths on such issues, and the importance of following up with students, as well as the keenness of education institutions to extend all capabilities to serve students in total clearness and transparency with no secrecy, as the way before led to the large numbers of the youth leaning toward such terrorist and takrist thoughts.”
She noted that consultations are no longer limited to family violence and social problems. “The new methodology of consultations focuses on the intellectual relation with events in the region,” she added.
She explained that the highest ratio of people seeking consultations are university students because they are the category most exposed to negative thoughts, and they are the most targeted. “This is why they are the age group that needs the most awareness in terms of family and social issues,” she asserted.
“About five months ago I met a student who was conducting research on reasons youths join Daesh. She found that this terrorist organization sought to convince young people that it is in fact an Islamic State. She was so impressed with the thoughts of another female member of Daesh and was following her on Twitter, but luckily she discovered that what was really happening was a mere terrorist thought and game with no relation to Islam whatsoever.”