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Welcome to A’Sharqiyah University in Oman: The Bosses Have Lost All Moral Values!! Published on June 23, 2018
Ali Mansouri Writer, Researcher, Consultant Google + When anyone of us signs a work contract with a company or an organization, we have the right to expect the bosses and the company to respect the work contract in all details. This includes, of course, the respect of the labor laws on which this work contract has been based. We also expect the bosses to behave humanely as we assume we are dealing with human beings, not with machines or robots. Being a human being involves, above all, the implementation of laws with heart as Melania Trump has recently said: “we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also Page 2 of 7
a country that governs with heart.” though she needs to say this first to her husband who does not seem to govern with a heart! His zero-tolerance policy against immigrants and the separation of children from their parents is appalling, evil, cruel, immoral and inhumane, as many have put it. America has become the first country to violate basic human rights whereas it is supposed to be the champion of human rights in the world! According to Amnesty International, separating children from their parents amounts to torture. The American Dream has thus become the “American Nightmare”! But for me, Donald Trump, merciless and bad as he is, is more merciful than Abood Al-Sawafi (VC) and Hamed Al-Hajri (Assistant VC) of A’Sharqiyah University in Oman. These two monsters do not only govern without a heart but also without a mind and with a total disrespect and disregard to the “laws of the land” and the system of moral values in the human calendar. They have always put themselves above the Oman Labor Laws and have always acted in a way that violates the basic human values in life and at the workplace. All they are doing is completely against the moral values of the Omani culture and society which are wellknown for their unique friendliness and human compassion. I wonder why these two monsters believe they are above the law and above humanity and no one can ever hold them accountable for their illegal actions and immoral conducts. I still remember the story of the former Director of the Language Center and Foundation Program at A’Sharqiyah University, which is a familiar story by now. Here is a brief account. The man signed a work contract with the University to work as an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and TESOL. He was working very hard, faithfully and diligently. Then an academic and a legal dispute happened between an educational company running the Foundation Program and A’Sharqiyah University which was then a start-up higher education provider. This dispute was threatening the very existence of the University as there was no Foundation Program and there were no teachers available to run the Program. So the Associate Professor was asked by the University to design the Foundation Program. The time was too short and there was no one to help him in any way. But he worked day and night to design the Program as per the national and international requirements and standards. He had also to work almost singlehandedly to recruit 52 qualified teachers from all over the world to teach the English Language, Math, and IT to the students of the Foundation Program. Then he had to contact reputed publishes to arrange for the purchase of the academic books, textbooks and other teaching Page 3 of 7
materials (CDs, DVDs, teachers’ manuals, etc.). Again single-handedly! He continued to work very hard and efficiently in running the Foundation Program after he became the Director of the Language Center and Foundation Program. As per the structure of the Language Center, there should be at least 5 academics and staffers to assist the Director in the management of the Language Center. There was none! The University behaved in a very stupid way and did not appoint anyone in order to save money. So the Director had to do everything alone! You can imagine how hard it was to run a Language Center and a Foundation Program in a start-up university with 52 teachers and thousands of students by one single person! Then came Abood Al-Sawafi (VC) and Hamed Al-Hajri (Assistant VC) to join A’Sharqiyah University. Instead of appreciating the hard-work and the unique efforts done by the Director, his work contract was not renewed in spite of the fact that the University was in an urgent need for his experience, expertise and services. All this because he stood against their forgery of students’ grades and corruption by reporting them via an internal memo to the Chairman of the Board of Directors. They did worse than that. They decided not give the Director his end-of-service gratuity though this is completely illegal in Oman and against all moral values. You cannot simply deprive your employees of their legal rights and compensations just because they wrote an internal memo against you as part of doing their jobs. So the Director took them to court. The case took about two years during which the Director, who was an expatriate, had to struggle to feed himself and his family! These two monsters used all wicked and evil means to discredit the Director and deprive him of all his legal and human rights. But the worse thing they did was to publish an ad on a local newspaper in Arabic saying the Director, who was an Associate Professor, “had run away from work and no one was permitted to give him work” in spite of the fact that the Director’s work relationship with the University had officially ended almost a year ago and the court case was still going on. The Director had already been given an official letter from the University certifying the end of the work relationship. So how did he run away from work? Imagine yourself a university Professor and your work relationship with the University has officially ended and you have an official letter from the University itself to this effect. Then after a year they put an ad on a local newspaper with your picture on it saying “this worker has run away from the University and should not be given work by another employer” as if the University professor were a manual worker working on a farm! This is really insulting and very Page 4 of 7
offensive to all university professors and educators and to the higher education system in Oman and the world. It also violates the very basic human values of the Omani society! Are Abood AlSawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri really Omanis?! Are they human beings or monsters?! As if this was not enough for them, they went even further. They refused even to give air-tickets to the Director and his family to return to his country as per the Oman labor Law in order to embarrass him and get him deported by the police! Wickedness beyond belief! What else have they done? Let us look at the following list.
Separating children from their families in the Foundation Program by refusing to grant them their full legal status and depriving them of their air-tickets and allowances. Many expatriate teachers and employees are financially unable to bring their children to live with them in Oman because of the stingy policies followed by Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri.
Denying the children and families of the Foundation Program teachers any appropriate medical insurance leaving them exposed to illnesses and diseases. There is no word for this but torture!
Refusing to pay for the education of teachers’ and employees’ children unlike the colleges and the universities in the other parts of the Gulf region.
Increasing the actual working hours by forcing the teachers and employees to actually work for twelve hours (8 a.m.- 8 p.m.) and even more in flagrant violation of the Oman Labor Law and the higher education regulations in Oman and the world! This is modernday slavery.
Depriving the College teachers and the Foundation Program teachers of their due summer allowances though they teach in a very difficult and unfavorable environment where the temperature in the summer exceeds 50 Centigrade and the absence of any appropriate cooling system in the lecture rooms.
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Practicing lying, cheating and deception with the teachers and staff even after signing the work contracts by reducing their salaries and their paid leaves.
Practicing deception with the students and their parents by promising them to offer quality education programs whereas in reality they offer them garbage programs and good-for-nothing certificates and degrees. Most of the graduates of A’Sharqiyah University are unemployable and cannot find work anywhere.
Dealing with the teachers, staff and students in a vulgar and uncivilized way. They use insulting and threatening styles all the time, turning the University into a labor camp.
Practicing sexual harassment with the female students.
Practicing mass forgery of students’ grades in return for sex and money.
Practicing bribery with the teachers and emloyees in return for the renewal of work contracts.
Using intimidation against teachers and employees by taking them to the Public Prosecutors in Ibra, who are complacent about the bribery and corruption of Abood AlSawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri.
Using intimidation and pressure against the teachers who refuse to pass students when these students are not fit academically to pass.
Encouraging students to take the teachers to court in case they refuse to pass these students.
The list is endless. A’Sharqiyah University has become a jungle. This is a real tragedy. Donald Trump is not the only merciless and bad guy in the world. Abood Al-Sawafi (VC) and Hamed Al-Hajri (Assistant VC) of A’Sharqiyah University in Oman are far worse than him. They take pleasure not only in torturing their teachers and staff but also in torturing the students and their parents for the rest of their lives by offering them garbage certificates and degrees. What they are
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doing has nothing to do with Omani laws, values and culture. It is time these two monsters were held accountable for this torture!
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