Taibah University denies providing data for ‘Hafiz’

The Taibah University in Madinah has denied claims that it had provided the Ministry of Labor and the officials in charge of the Hafiz program with data concerning its male and female graduates, who have applied to the program for the monthly allowance to be paid under the plan. “The source of the data that has appeared on the program concerning our graduates is not the university. Nobody has asked us for any information regarding our graduates,” said Isa bin Muhammad Al-Qaidi, the supervisor of the university’s media center. “The university has over the two past days received many inquiries from a number of students regarding this issue. We would like to clarify that the university has not provided the Hafiz program with any information concerning its male and female graduates,” he said. Al-Qaidi explained that after giving the graduates their certificates, the university the admission deanship would mark in its electronic system — against the name of each one — that he or she was a “graduate”. “At the end of each academic year, the university provides the Ministry of Higher Education with the names of all its male and female graduates. The university has nothing to do with the information obtained by the Ministry of Labor about its graduates,” he said. Al-Qaidi said under the instructions of the rector, Mansour bin Muhammad Al-Nuzha, the university would give any of its graduates a “to whom it may concern” certificate to present to any interested party. “The university has intensified its efforts over the past two days to provide the concerned parties with data about its graduates during the past years. It is also quite willing to supply data about its graduates to any interested party upon request,” he said.