‘School curricula need to include culture of hygiene education’
“IF TAXES and fines were enforced, then everyone would be committed to cleanliness, and if not everything is lost – even in countries such as Europe and US we will see no cleanliness, because this happens when a country lags in education and culture, and everything is then at stake,” columnist Abdullah Khalaf wrote for Al-Rai daily.
“Our roads have an army of cleaners, and this is of no use as long as the citizen does not comply. You see him opening the car windows and throwing his waste and dirt onto the streets. Gulf countries have hygiene culture laws.
“On the National Day, February 25, one of the oil tankers anchored in Port Abdullah cast into the sea one of its damaged tanks. Some citizens took a picture of the floating tank with their cell phones and contacted a supervisory authority, and the answer was, ‘We will send a team of divers’. This is an official lie because the tank was floating and does not need a team of divers. It is above the surface of the water being tossed around by waves and after half an hour the tank was washed ashore by the waves.
“A tourist goes to the shores of the Gulf countries and finds cleanliness, while our coasts are extremely dirty. The citizen has a guard in the chalet who does not charge him to clean the space in front of his chalet that he owns. The school teacher has to instruct the student who has discarded a paper in front of him/her to carry it to the trash can, school curricula do not carry the culture of hygiene education. Education should spread the culture of hygiene. In Europe, the highest wages are given to janitors. In our schools, when we are in the initial stages, we are searched if the student was carrying a handkerchief before the appearance of paper tissues, and if he does not have cloth tissues, he is punished for continuing to carry a handkerchief for hygiene.
“Each school took care of the cleaning and hygiene but now this is done by an army of cleaners contracted by the Ministry of Education and in spite of this nothing looks clean. Drinking water was scarce and not cooled, things were smooth and hygiene was available. Students were striving to provide hygiene, and cleanliness was an educational approach provided by the teacher and the student together.”
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“The issue of the decades-old dispute is frequently raised over the interpretation of Article 116 of the Constitution, which states at the end: ‘The ministry (i.e. the government) must be represented in the council’s sessions by its president or by some of its members,’” columnist Meshari Jassim AlAnjari wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“I stated my opinion on this subject in the National Assembly on 11-171981 in the first year of my membership in the National Assembly, and I confirmed this opinion with a statement published in Al-Qabas on 21-3-2010.
“Many spoke and wrote on this subject, including the presidents and members of the National Assembly, a number of law specialists, and other members of society, between supporters and opponents.
“The absence of a representative is the invalidity of the session because the text is not explicit about its invalidity. Rather, the representative is held accountable for the reason for his/her non-attendance, in line with the provision of Article 97 of the Constitution, which requires the validity of the Council’s meeting to be attended by the majority of its members, without referring to the ministers as they are members of the Council by virtue of the Constitution.
“Another group believes that the presence of a representative of the government in all parliament sessions, as stated in Article 116 of the constitution, is necessary for the validity of its convening, otherwise the absence will result in the invalidity of the session, which is the opinion that the National Assembly has followed until now. It is known that the direct solution to this conflict of opinion lies in going to the Constitutional Court, which is the one concerned with resolving this dispute and the difference in understanding and interpretation, if any of the Council or the government submits to the court a request to interpret the relevant constitutional texts.
“With full appreciation for the aforementioned two opinions, and in order not to go too far in the dispute and disagreement, ultimately the responsibility for addressing the issue of the absence of the government from any of the sessions of the National Assembly falls on the shoulders of the parliament’s representatives in light of any of the two aforementioned interpretations of the provision of Article 116 of the constitution, through accountability of the Prime Minister for the reason for absence and non-compliance with the provision of Article 116 of the Constitution.
“If the government’s absence from the session was for an essential and legitimate reason such as resignation, or it was agreed upon in advance, then the accountability was withheld due to the circumstances of the absence.
“Thus, we have settled the dispute, and put in place the appropriate solution to remedy this problem and in God we trust.”
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“A few days ago, the Amiri Decree was issued on the reappointment of His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as Prime Minister.
We congratulate His Highness for gaining the trust of the political leadership once again,” columnist Khalid Al-Arrafa wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“Days will pass and the curtain will fall on the new ministerial formation of the third government under Sheikh Al-Nawaf. We hope that the new ministers are statesmen, decision-makers and reformers with a clear vision on the advancement of the country while prioritizing the citizens’ issues in action, not just in words. Here, everyone must give His Highness the Prime Minister the appropriate time to select ministers with experience and competencies at this critical stage, which requires the government to work, achieve and cooperate with the National Assembly to resolve all outstanding files that were stalled for one reason or another over the past months.
“We hope to have ministers who are chosen carefully and deliberately, along with a thorough review of the practical and scientific biographies of all candidates by a specialized team before the official announcement. They should refrain from re-appointing those who previously held ministerial positions and did not record any significant achievement.
“Once formed, the new government must extend a cooperative hand to the Assembly. They should work together to address the outstanding issues and resolve them radically, such as the housing file, in which we do not see any progress. The same applies to the health file, which still suffers from severe deterioration and needs rapid intervention, in addition to the files on unemployment and demographics.”
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“Our paths are built on solid foundations and rules on true beliefs, values, morals and professionalism. Ideally, a path is drawn as a straight line between the starting point (the start) and the ending point (the end),” columnist Jamal Al-Hamoud wrote for Annahar daily.
“During our journey, we try to walk straight toward our goals, but we deviate from time to time. It is easy to return to the straight path if we are still close to it. All we need is a simple correction of the direction.
“The farther we go, the more difficult it is to return until we reach a point where we feel that we lost our way. Some of those who get lost want to possess a compass that can bring them back. How many straight paths are there in your life? Before you direct and guide others, you must appreciate your place in your journey while you are standing at a fourdimensional point between time and space. It is impossible for a lost person to guide others to the right path. Thus, analyze yourself first, because you have the choice to correct yourself and your mistakes.”