JEDDAH: Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, launches Sunday night five days of events at the King Fahd Cultural Center in Riyadh to mark Universal Children's Day, officially celebrated annually on November 20. With a range of events staged for both adults and children to enjoy, publishers and writers of children's literature will have a particularly noticeable presence as they seek to promote books and revive the interest of children, parents and the authorities alike. “Everyone talks about how important children's literature is, but in reality there's no organization with a presence or a clear-cut program for children and conducting studies or introducing programs around the country,” said Othman Al-Seeni, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Arabiya magazine. “All we see are official bodies that include children's literature in their various events such as the King Abdul Aziz Public Library and seasonal activities run by ministries and educational and local authorities.” Al-Seeni said many persons involved in the field of children's literature take an adult's perspective and not that of children themselves in terms of their culture, formation and requirements. Technology has advanced, he says, and while most efforts still focus on cartoons, color books and some electronic games, children themselves have already left behind games consoles and moved on to portable devices “the size of the palm of your hand”. “Any means of addressing children that does not take into account their areas of interest is a waste of time, money and effort,” he said. “International companies now produce children's programs for the iPhone and iPad.” Yaqoub Ishaq, Editor-in-Chief of “Hassan” children's magazine, believes there is potential for children's literature in the Kingdom but that writers “don't find the necessary encouragement or interest from the authorities, with the exception of the Ministry of Culture which purchases and publishes limited quantities of books by Saudi writers”. “Saudi writers have been ignored while interest has turned to books from abroad,” Ishaq says. “It's impossible for Saudi children's literature to grow.” November 20 marks the day on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989, and Salim Al-Tuwaiqri of the Education Administration says the Kingdom has brought in programs and services to help children “grow in the various aspects of their personalities”. “The Convention states that a child is anyone under the age of 18, a definition that covers all public education pupils, and the Ministry of Education has been working to achieve the aims of the Kingdom's education policy,” Al-Tuwaiqri said. “The Education Administration is aware of the importance of this, beginning with the educational and administrative responsibility to put into effect the Convention on Rights of the Child and putting in place procedures to provide the best conditions for education and to ensure psychological, educational and social harmony in pupils' personalities,” he said. The programs, he added, are not confined to one day a year, but involve activities throughout the academic year. Child psychologist Jamal Al-Tuwaiqri said that Universal Children's Day could be used to promote public awareness of how to better transmit information to children and identify the sort of information that is inappropriate for their age. “Each child needs to be handled according to his or her age,” Al-Tuwaiqri said. “We also need awareness against the use of aggression, which only produces aggressive or submissive people.” The festival, open for visitors from 5 P.M. to 10:30 P.M., will host theater and puppet shows as well as workshops for children to learn a variety of creative and technical skills. Gift packs will be handed out over the five days of the event, and embassies from around the Arab World and beyond will be in attendance at their designated wings.
