Nobles Properties, a global real estate developer, announced the award of a full engineering scholarship to Mosheer al Hazmi, a gifted Yemeni high school student, who has demonstrated exceptional skill at architectural model-making despite devastating circumstances in his home country.
Fifteen-year-old Mosheer’s story received widespread attention in the press and social media after several television stations interviewed him, highlighting his natural talent creating mock-up building models. The youth clarified he began with rudimentary tools and materials while still in primary school; and the lack of resources in Yemen have prevented him from developing his architectural talents any further.
“Education is a strategic imperative that forms the foundation of our Corporate Social Responsibility platform,” stated Omar Ayesh, Nobles’ founder and Chairman. He explained that the spread of knowledge is a critical part of treating the problems that plague the region’s youth, such as crime, corruption, unemployment, terrorism, ideological extremism, and drug addiction. Ayesh called on businesspeople and decision-makers to take on the challenge of supporting talented youth and the education sector, particularly in areas devastated b wars and regional conflict. “The time has come for us to speak with one voice and say enough death, destruction, and waste of our resources,” he declared. “Let’s make way for the voices of reason to put our wealth and wisdom to work on building and developing individuals and nations.”
Musheer’s family expressed their gratitude upon learning of the grant stating they had nearly lost hope of a better future for the teen considering the crippling effects of war in Yemen that all but destroyed the country’s educational institutions and traumatized many of its children. The scholarship came after months of media coverage with unfulfilled promises from prospective donors, the said.
According to the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, the number of children out of school in Yemen exceeds 2 million, over 25% of the nation’s youth, not counting the disrupted education caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This is a significant increase compared to 2016 statistics, where children out of school numbered around 650,000. UNICEF reports that since the beginning of the war in Yemen 6 years ago, many schools have been closed due to attacks on schools, students, and teachers, which led to the deterioration of the educational system and negatively influenced the enrollment rates. The organization notes that in most Yemeni governorates, the percentage of schools that were completely or partially destroyed has reached 50 percent of the total schools, with hundreds destroyed and over 1,500 schools had been bombed by air strikes.
The World Bank reports over a third of educational institutions have been damaged, and the number of students who need various types of support in the educational sector almost doubled in just two years from about two million children in 2017 to more than 4.5 million children in 2019. These needs include the availability of study facilities, equipment, books, and more.
Nobles Properties has provided hundreds of grants and 220 university scholarships, with a total of more than 1,000 scholarships over a period of 5 years in more than 10 countries. The company plans on significantly increasing the number of beneficiaries in future.
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