IMPROVING society should begin with the younger generation and the parents and teachers around them in the opinion of Solafa Adel Batterjee, who dedicated her life to teaching children after she first had direct contact with Down Syndrome students. Batterjee is applying in her Rwaq Al-Tfola educational center what she learned while studying for her Master of Arts in Education. “We work in different locations in order to get in touch with the largest number of people who can benefit from learning more about strategies for teaching children,” she said. Batterjee, a member of a number of international educational organizations, is an Emotional Intelligence Certified trainer, a Peer Counseling for Breastfeeding trainer and a member of the Emotional Intelligence Network. “Most successful people in the world use emotional intelligence to reach their goals,” she explained. “Our role in Rwaq Al-Tfola is to improve this special kind of intelligence in children.” Batterjee explained that there are different kinds of intelligence, and that emotional intelligence is one of the most important. “We work hard to improve this kind of intelligence starting from intermediate school by having after-school activities programs for children,” she said. According to her, what the younger generation faces when they reach a certain stage of their lives is having the feeling that they are not being understood by the people around them. “It is important to teach parents how to use this special kind of intelligence to improve their children's mentality,” she said. Batterjee provides information on this and other aspects of education of children during her training programs which are based on the experience that she has acquired from teaching and interacting with students. “As a trainer, I must live the situation before I try to explain it, which is why I feel that the value of the information I give comes from my teaching experience.” Batterjee organizes five training programs every year. “I provide training programs for parents, teachers and students and I always try to locate the course in a different area in order to reach the largest number of people. I also make an effort to include a mix of people in my programs who are of different educational, social and economic backgrounds.” As the mother of four, Batterjee said that she understands the importance of raising children. “After I was married, I traveled with my husband to the United States where he was studying. I had my first child there and decided to devote all of my time and effort to my baby rather than studying myself,” she said. One of Batterjee's dreams is to spread the habit of reading in Saudi society, which is why she has included a number of training sessions at Rwaq Al-Tfola on the subject. “Our society needs to be more of a society of readers. We rarely see people reading books in public places. Being able to see such a thing will be a sign of improvement,” she said. “Reading is important and every mother should be careful in selecting Arabic books full of information for her children,” she added.
