Ministry spreads positive behaviour

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

The Ministry of Community Development has organized various awareness activities and events under the title “be safe” as part of a programme named “Alssaheb-Saheb” i.e. an initiative to enhance positive friendship-adopted by the Ministry to guide children, teenagers and young people towards good friendship and avoid bad companions. The event has also educated them on how to choose a friend with good manners who is known for his principles and can be a helping hand for his friend to adopt positive actions.

The Ministry organised several activities targeting scout guides aged between 14-16 years’ old to highlight a variety of topics and ideas that can affect this generation positively and at the same time enhance positive friendship in order to achieve psychological, personal and societal safety.

Eman Hareb, Director of Community Protection Department at the Ministry of Community Development emphasised that the programme aims for promoting positive friendship and educating children about the dangers of having bad companions and benefits of good companions, risks and negative influences of their surroundings and increasing their awareness about protection from misleading and destructive ideas witnessed worldwide now. The activities of “Be Safe” began with a series of ideas about selecting companions, defining good and bad friends, how to make friends, common qualities, differentiating between good and bad friends, proper communication and correct friendship relations.

The events also focused on the importance of communication in making correct friendship, providing support to friends and the role of rumors in causing tension and affecting relations.

The activities also defined strangers and their effect on changing our thinking, ways of setting up victims, methods of caution and prevention, strangers’ attempts to give misleading ideas and information. The program also highlighted the role of strangers in setting up problems with community members, the importance of not speaking to strangers, using the mind when exposed to risks and dangers, The program has been implemented in coordination with Sharjah Police Headquarters, and Sharjah Scouts’ Guides to enhance the understanding of loving the nation and loyalty to the country, role of family in protecting children from extremism, prevention and protection methods from extremist ideas, self-protection of individuals from slipping into extremism.