Union NewsInternational Conference: “Girls’ Education in Muslim Societies: Challenges and Opportunities”

The Director General of "UNA" Participates as a Keynote Speaker at the Global Conference on Girls' Education

Islamabad (UNA) – The Director General of the Union of OIC News Agencies, His Excellency Mr. Mohammed Bin Abd Rabbo Al-Yami, participated in the round table: “The role of media in achieving educational justice for girls and enhancing the image of Islam globally” held on Sunday in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, within the framework of the international conference: “Girls’ Education in Muslim Societies: Challenges and Opportunities”.

Al-Yami stressed during his speech that began the roundtable’s work that holding this workshop within the framework of this global initiative on girls’ education in Muslim societies represents an important step towards activating the role of the media in this field.

Al-Yami emphasized the role of the media in raising awareness of girls’ right to education, calling on girls to exert greater effort in correcting misconceptions and distorted interpretations of Sharia texts, by allocating more space to address this issue, and committing to transforming what is issued by the approved references and jurisprudential assemblies in the Islamic world, regarding girls’ legal right to education, into media content that is understandable to the audiences at different levels of knowledge.

He urged the media to highlight the achievements of Muslim women and girls, and to present models and role models based on knowledge, leadership and active participation in decision-making in various political, social, cultural and economic fields.

Al-Yami also called for improving and intensifying the cultural and educational content in the media, and presenting it in a professional and easy manner, in cooperation with educational institutions and entities, in a way that would employ the media’s ability to convey and simplify information, and to move it from the narrow educational and academic space to the broad space that does not recognize borders or barriers.

Al-Yami confirmed the readiness of the Union of OIC News Agencies to employ the Union’s network and its member agencies in any collective effort related to implementing these initiatives, expressing his thanks to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for the warm reception and hospitality, and to the Muslim World League for its great efforts in organizing this conference.

The roundtable discussion was attended by Professor Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhry, the General Coordinator of the Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMSTECH), Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Murad, the Director of the University of Management and Technology (UMT) in Pakistan, Mr. Hamad bin Saleh Al-Mahmood, the Director of Sky News Arabia in Saudi Arabia, Dr. Muhammad Murtaza Noor, the Media Advisor for the COMSTECH Committee, Mr. Muhammad Abbas Jawad Al-Talabi, the Head of the Editorial Department at the Iraqi News Agency, Mr. Zalmay Neshat, the Founder of Mosaic Afghanistan, Mr. Farid Merabet, the Director-General of AfricTv, and Mr. Muhammad Ilyas Khan, the Director of International and Global Affairs at the Pakistan News Agency.

During their interventions, the participants reviewed the role of the media in enabling girls to obtain their basic rights, most notably the right to education.

The roundtable concluded with a number of recommendations, most notably: enhancing the role of the media in raising awareness of girls’ legal right to education and confronting misconceptions and misinterpretations of religion, allocating sufficient space to the approved references and jurisprudential councils, highlighting their support for this issue, and focusing in media coverage on women’s right to quality education, not just education, while choosing the appropriate media tool and medium for each country and society.

It also recommended enhancing the role of the media in introducing opportunities and scholarships offered by international organizations and bodies, and delivering them to those who actually deserve them in needy communities and countries, while working to enhance transparency in the process of selecting the winners of these scholarships, and highlighting the successes achieved by some countries in the field of women's and girls' education, which would encourage other countries to emulate and draw inspiration from the experience of these countries.

The recommendations included a call to promote success stories in Muslim societies, with a focus on stories based on science, and to challenge stereotypes of women that are often promoted in the media, in addition to strengthening the role of the media through investigative journalism and documentaries in exposing violations of women’s rights, especially the right to education.

The recommendations also included a call to build alliances between the media and the education sector in launching media campaigns to influence families and urge them to educate girls and dismantle the obstacles that stand in the way of this goal.

The recommendations stressed the need to be cautious and avoid misleading generalizations in the media that portray certain religions or cultures as fundamentally opposed to women’s rights, and to focus instead on confronting misinterpretations and analyzing and understanding the social and economic contexts that foster these interpretations, which would help these societies to liberate themselves from these misinterpretations.

Furthermore, there was a call to strengthen the role of the media and social media in promoting the true, tolerant values of Islam, highlighting Islam's embrace of science and knowledge, and introducing the scholars and thinkers of Islamic civilization.

(is over)

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