A study carried out by Dr. Ali Al-Zahrani of Edinburgh University has shown that 22 percent of children in the Kingdom are exposed to sexual abuse. According to a report in Al-Watan daily Dr. Khalid Al-Helaibi, Head of the Family Development Center and a teaching assistant at the Shariah and Islamic Studies College at Mohammad Bin Saud University, cited the study during a lecture given last week at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Elementary School in Hofuf, during which he challenged students to stand up in front of their colleagues, parents and teachers and tell of their experiences of attempts to sexually abuse them. Al-Helaibi spoke of the nature of children most vulnerable to sexual abuse and gave advice to parents and teachers on how to spot the signs that a child is being sexually abused. Many of them, he said, are kept quiet through blackmail. Al-Helaibi also said that encouraging sexual awareness would not harm children but instead empower them to be able to perceive the intentions of others. “I noticed that some students were brave enough to stand up in front of everybody and tell of how they had managed to escape from attempts at sexual abuse,” Al-Helaibi said after the lecture. Ali Al-Dossari, the principal of Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Elementary School, said the lecture came at the instigation of both school authorities and pupils. “We did a survey of students on the subject of sexual abuse in which they were asked if they would be willing to attend a lecture on the subject,” Al-Dossari said. “We think that having lectures on this subject are just as important as ones on drugs or terrorism,” Al-Dossari told Al
