RIYADH: King Saud University in Riyadh is holding a program designed to combat the rising rate of divorce in the Kingdom, said by official statistics to have reached 66 cases a day. Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Arabic daily reported that the program, which is due to commence within two weeks, will offer guidance to soon-to-be-married students on “emotional development” and how to “generate love” in married life in order to “achieve happiness and avoid the problems that can lead to separation”. The course, entitled “A Correct Life” and which is being held by the university's Preparatory Year College, is the university's response to its “obligations to society”, according to Dean of the college Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Othman. “It's an effort to try and promote happiness and peace of mind in the marital home,” he told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. “The course entails lectures by speakers specializing in Shariah sciences, sociology, psychiatry and family medicine and training.” He said the various aspects of the issue would be looked at in an “exciting and unorthodox way”, citing the “mental health of the couple”, “ways of understanding each other's personal character”, “how to guard against disturbances” and “how to build an intimate emotional relationship governed by love”.
