Fully Married to the Education System→

This is awkward, but it is the most shared story among Saudi Twitter users today: a Saudi man has married a high school student, a teacher and a principle. All the three belong to the same school. He also has a fourth wife who works as an educational supervisor, and her work includes overseeing the school where her husband’s three other wives work. The bizarre story was published in Okaz today. The paper did not name the man, but it said he is in his fifties and lives in the southern region of Jizan.

My favorite tweets commenting on the story come courtesy of Ali Sheneamer, a man originally from Jizan, who described the polygamist as being “in bed with the ministry!” Sheneamer added: “Stop him from penetrating our education system!” But someone pointed out that when it comes to marriage in the sector, quality is far more important than quantity. The example he cited is the Education Minister who is, of course, married to the King’s daughter.

Music is Indispensable Science, Saudi Columnist Says→

Okaz columnist Khalaf al-Harbi comments on the debate about music at Saudi schools:

I believe the Ministry of Education will make one of the biggest mistakes in its history if it does not introduce such classes in schools. All over the world, schools teach music to students, except in Saudi Arabia. It is difficult to believe that those schools are wrong and we are right.

I know that I will receive an avalanche of criticisms from the majority of people who will read my article because I believe music is an indispensable science for human beings.

But it brings me solace that 99 percent of readers who attack me now have played a major role in making Arabic satellite channels that air music clips popular. Today, the music market in our country is one of the largest in the Middle East, thanks to those readers.