Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Rabiha Dajani (born 1924) is a Palestinian journalist and radio broadcaster.
Her birth and upbringing
Rabiha Dajani was born in the city of Jerusalem in 1924. She belongs to the ancient Dajani family, which provided services to the Arab world and Palestine in particular.
She is fluent in four languages: Arabic, English, French and German. She obtained a “Metric” certificate in Palestine in 1938 and a diploma in education and social service from “Bennett” College in London in 1940 [1] .
Her professional biography
Rabiha Al-Dajjani was the first Arab broadcaster to work on Al-Quds Radio , where she wrote and presented programs for women in the 1940s. She founded a special women’s section on the radio that was popular with female writers and educators.
She completed her higher education in London and was the first Muslim woman from a conservative family to drive a car at that time, after working as a social worker in the Mandatory Palestine government. This was also outside the scope of women's work, which was defined at that time as nursing and education.
Her educational work in Kuwait
After the Nakba of Palestine, Rabiha moved between several countries and settled in Kuwait . She remained in Kuwait for forty years, where she worked in various educational and social professions, and obtained Kuwaiti citizenship thanks to her achievements. She and her late husband, Darwish Al-Miqdadi , played a major role in improving education in the State of Kuwait at the beginning of the 1950s, as there were only three schools for boys and girls in Kuwait at that time.
Rabiha made great efforts to improve education in the State of Kuwait, establishing centers in the Ministry for adult education and literacy . Due to her efforts in the most important and dangerous field, which is education and raising the level of the country, she was granted Kuwaiti citizenship in appreciation of her.
Rabiha founded the first private school in Kuwait, “The New Generation School ,” for girls in 1964 to fill a gap in girls’ education in Kuwait. The school received the highest awards for the excellence of its students in the high school certificate. After that, the State of Kuwait appointed her as an inspector for all girls’ schools in the country.
In addition to all of that, Rabiha did not abandon her passion for radio. She worked at Kuwait Radio since its inception and founded its women’s section. She was a preparer and presenter at the same time. She trained many Kuwaiti women in the colors and arts of radio work until Kuwait was provided with a school full of distinguished radio experiences from its women.
Her marriage
Al-Dajjani wrote about her first husband, Yahya Al-Lababidi , after his death: “There was constant movement and an abundance of joy in the Radio House, and he was active in every aspect of it. He would organize, compose, and participate in talks and narrations. Moreover, he managed the artistic department with all wisdom and knowledge.”
Her late husband, Darwish Al-Miqdadi, had the most prominent role in the field of education, as he was the director of education in Kuwait and during his work he founded the Arab Institute for the Education of the Children of Martyrs in Jerusalem, from which Al-Quds University and other universities later branched out. He was the one who encouraged her to join the American University of Beirut and developed in her the spirit of reading, writing, and reading historical books.
Establishing a school in her name in Hebron
When an elite group of Hebron men visited her to buy a piece of land she owned in the city to build a school on, she said, “The land is not for sale. It is a gift from me for the school project.” So the body implementing the project decided to name the school “Rabiha Al-Dajjani.”
I mentioned during an interview that the issue that concerns me is the issue of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif.
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
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