27
EDUCATION
SATURDAY, september 17, 2011
Children with disabilities in Omani folktales
family. This is explained by
the researcher in this way: an
in-depth look into the folktales
on disabled children will enable us to see the system of
roles and relations within the
small family, unveiling the
level of variation in considering such children as members
in their families.
It is evident that there is
discrimination exercised by
the father towards his children, whereby he seems to
be guided by his emotions
towards able-bodied children
only. No doubt, this happens
at the expense of the disabled
child, the case being portrayed
by The Twin folktale.
Dr Aida al Nablawi, at
the College of Education
embarks on a study
aimed at approaching
the Omani society’s
perception of disabled
children and determining
how much it is related
to cultural traditions,
and in particular the
folktales which project
these children as central
or marginal characters.
The purpose, then, is
to explore the folktales’
social and cultural
implications and values
Role of Mother
A
t a time when the
Arab world is celebrating the Arab
Decade for Persons with Disabilities 2003-2012, different
social organisations seek to
promote better understanding
of issues relevant to persons
with special needs. However,
sustained efforts should be
made by the whole society to
advance the inclusion of people with disabilities in employment and secure decent living
conditions for them. Estimates
show that there are over 650
million people with impairment. Disability organisations
insist that there is strong link
between poverty and disability, as statistics have revealed
that 80 per cent of people with
disabilities live in developing
countries, among them some
426 million live below the
poverty line.
There is ample evidence
that the services offered by a
society to children with disabilities only reflect the preconceptions and feelings of
its individuals as to the notion
of disability and the capacities and needs of such children. Specifically, the image
of such children in the popular folklore can be seen in the
many values and beliefs of the
society which translate into
fear, sympathy, misfortune or
dead end. Further, these children may regularly receive
diverse forms of treatment
from the people around them,
like mocking, rejection, avoidance, curiosity, observation,
compassion, etc.
This is a topic which has attracted the attention of Dr Aida
al Nablawi, at the College of
Education. She embarked on
a study aimed at approaching
the Omani society’s perception of disabled children and
determining how much it is
related to cultural traditions,
and in particular the folktales
which project these children
as central or marginal characters. The purpose, then, is to
explore the folktales’ social
and cultural implications and
values.
Methodology
munity study approach so as to
find how much the content of
these tales was reflected in the
society’s view on these children. Based on observations
and interviews, the study attempted to monitor the social
circle of contacts of children
in their environment.
Scope of Research
As to the focus of the
project, the academic identifies
three areas of interest. These
are 1) the impact of folktales
on defining the image of children with disabilities; 2) disabled children in Omani folktales; and 3) the social habitat
of disabled children.
In her pursuit to achieve
the purpose of research, Dr Al
Nablawi says that she got access to existing folktales, examining their effects on prevalent beliefs that are associated
with stereotypes of people. A
number of Omani folktales
Folktales
were analysed for their social
The research work has
connotations. The social environment of children with dis- come up with important findabilities was investigated in a ings about the folktales’ role
fieldwork based on the com- in instilling a stereotypical
Teacher preparation and
classroom efficacy
A
new study is under way to trace graduates of SQU secondary
teacher education programme, the only qualification of its kind
in Oman. The research, carried out by Dr Thuwayba bint Ahmed
al Barwani at the College of Education, is designed to assess the progress
achieved by graduates in their teaching career. Further, it examines the
graduates’ self-assessment of their teaching ability, pedagogical practices
in classroom and their views on whether pre-service training adequately
prepared them for the teaching profession.
The study also lays the foundation for the type of assessment required
for international accreditation from organisations such as National Council
for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), currently meeting with
education representatives from MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region to set appropriate international standards. In her remarks on such
standards in view of the NCATE, Dr Al Barwani says they require that a
teacher preparation programme have “an assessment system that collects
and analyses data on applicant qualifications, candidate and graduate performance, and unit operations to evaluate and improve the performance of
candidates together with the unit and its programmes”.
image of people with special
needs. On these results, Dr Al
Nablawi has this to say: investigating the content of selected
Omani folktales which consider the child with disability
as a central character, it is noticeable that the tales intend
to send several messages to
receptors. Some messages imply that children with different
disabilities are active individuals in their families and
local community. They show
signs of bravery and stand
up to injustices. The message
is simply that one should not
underestimate or discriminate
against them whether inside or
outside their families. In addition, the tales indirectly warns
families of disabled children
against behaviours of neglect,
denial, or discrimination from
within. The tales of al Qahs
and The Twin teach the whole
family a lesson about the harmful consequences of abusing a
disabled child, for such a mistreatment is considered an immoral and irreligious conduct.
One tale praises the disabled
child for his smart actions to
help his family, depicting him
as superior to his able-bodied
sibling and enjoying rational
thinking in some situations.
The bottom line is that such
a child should be regarded as
an active member in his social
milieu.
Dr Al Nablawi also talks
about the role of mother and
her relation with the disabled
child, where the folktales
show her more caring for the
child but also fearing the father of the child. This is, she
concludes, a behaviour which
is typical of a traditional society that is in favour of male superiority and dominance. According to the tale, the mother
is incapable of expressing
herself and her feelings for her
disabled child at the presence
of the father, let alone protecting him/her against discrimination and injustices.
Role of society
The study also gives due
weight to the social environment surrounding disabled
children. In this regard, the
academic cites a folktale
called Saloom that highlights
the role of the local community the disabled child lives in.
The anecdote reveals that the
mentally challenged Saloom
was regularly abused by both
old and young people in his
village to the extent that they
called him crazy Saloom. This
is a good example of a folktale
that characterises the society’s
attitudes of rejecting and isolating the disabled child in his
limited local community, the
village, ie the environmental
and social context with which
the child interacts. Here, the
image of the mentally disabled
child becomes instilled in the
minds of his immediate community. The narrative seeks to
send important messages calling for shifting the negative
stereotype about disabled chilIn-depth look
dren into something that would
The study managed to provide them with care and atidentify the system of roles tention. It focuses as well on
and relations within the small their considerable capacities
to be active members in their ate, in the forefront of which
community shouldering bur- being the disparities between
different groups in the society
dens without complaint.
in terms of delivering services
The findings
to those children and the apThe study findings sug- proaches families follow in
gest that there are a number this area.
of socio-cultural factors that
She adds: although there is
determine the image of disa- clear evidence of both public
bled children in the context of and civil interest in this regard,
Omani society, Dr Al Nablawi the different sectors of the socisays. In addition, there seems ety do not show the same conto be a gap between the edu- cern. There is still reluctance
cational, legislative and civil to take part in volunteer work,
groundwork and the popular due to the fact that the society
tales as to the society’s opin- usually does benevolent deeds
ion towards the disabled child within a conventional conand its socio-cultural implica- text rather than institutional
tions. Despite public and pri- framework. Therefore, there
vate efforts to alleviate the dif- is a need to disseminate the
ficulties of disabled children, culture of volunteer work and
there are challenges that face rights of disabled people for
such children in the Sultan- equality and participation in
Robot decision-making
A
n SQU engineering scholar is
launching a new study into decision-making by humanoid robots
and how they could generate autonomously a reflex motion. A humanoid robot is a
robot with its overall appearance, based
on that of the human body, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or
environments. Dr Riyadh al Zayer, at the
College of Engineering, says that humans
are able to take a pertinent decision in fraction of a second although such a decision
usually involves a rather time consuming
deliberative process. In his words, the socalled reflexes are usually obtained after
all practices and services. And
it is necessary to insure their
rights through both public and
private organisations.
There is a need to enhance
statistical capabilities in the areas of data collection, production and dissemination, Dr Al
Nablawi points out. In addition, efforts should be exerted
to introduce the internationally endorsed classifications
in cross-national surveys and
census, particularly the WHO
international classification of
impairments, disabilities and
handicaps, which facilitate
storage, retrieval and interpretation of data.
They also permit the comparison of data nationally, regionally and internationally,
the researcher concludes.
Impact of renewable energy projects
on power generation systems
training, practice and an extended experience of similar situations.
Both robots and humans experience the
same situations and events, Al Zayer says.
For instance, robots, interacting with humans performing collaborative work, face
the same kind of challenges. He adds: let us
imagine two humanoid robots manipulating
a table. If one of the robot loses grip of the
table, both robots must have appropriately
a quick move to minimise any damage that
may harm both robots. In such situations,
he underlines, generating the appropriate
reflex motion at the right time is crucial to
prevent any damage of the robots.
A
new study, by a scholar at Sultan Qaboos University, tries to develop a low-cost generation expansion plan for the main interconnected
system of Oman. It is designed to explore possible large-scale integration of renewable energy projects into the generation system and quantify
its mitigated environmental effects.
Dr Arif Said Malik, at the College of Engineering, said that electric utility
planning has as its main goal plans to conduct studies which would help make
decisions about the system expansion so as to meet the load forecast with
high reliability and at a minimum cost. “In the planning process, major decisions in expansion planning of the generation system must consider alternative generating unit sizes, types of capacity, timing of addition and locations.”
He added that the direct link between energy, environment, and sustainable
development entails that environmental implications of future power supply
systems must be explicitly built into all future development schemes in order
to minimise their adverse impact on the environment, optimise the use of
natural resources, and maximise value addition
Many options exist such as renewable energies (wind, solar or biomass
energy), advanced power generation technologies, efficient demand-side
technologies and reduction in transmission and distribution losses. Such alternatives, Malik suggests, can be effectively used to meet the future power
needs of the country in ways which would be more economically viable,
environmentally sound, and socially just.