Ten societies and centers in charge of marriage family conditions are to establish a joint national committee to train brides- and bridegrooms-to-be on married life. The headquarters of the committee will be in Madina and will be run under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Affairs. The committee will include marriage societies, family development centers and government sectors related to nascent (emerging?) families as well as financing charitable societies in the Kingdom. This was one of the many decisions made by authorities at the end of the meeting they held at the end of last week in Dammam. They agreed that the Usrati Society in Madina will be in charge coordinating and supervising the formation of this committee. They also agreed that, Executive Director of Usrati Society Muhammad Bin Ali Aal Radhi should draw up a temporary executive plan to establish the national committee to be referred to a higher committee comprising all the societies in order to be approved. These authorities have also agreed to form a religious and scientific committee to prepare a joint portfolio to train brides- and bridegrooms-to-be. There will be a special program for men and another for women. A third will be for physically challenged, dumb and deaf people. This committee will comprise members from all societies concerned in the Kingdom. A scientific plan will be prepared so as to prepare these portfolios. The preparation period should not exceed six months from the date of approval of the ministry to form the committee. They also agreed to form an executive committee which will lay down the necessary criteria to nominate 1000 male and female trainers from throughout the Kingdom. They will be trained on the training portfolio duringfor six months after evaluating the joint training portfolio for brides- and bridegrooms-to-be. The training for brides- and grooms-to-be will be for two days in the morning. The beneficiaries will be given leave from work during the training period as a moral incentive from their employers. The participants agreed that the first year will be an optional pilot scheme, but the second year will be compulsory for training brides- and grooms-to-be on marriage in big administrative regions. In the third year the training will be compulsory for all governorates and finally in the fourth year the programs will be made compulsory for villages and rural centers. __
