Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, ordered that the full cost of an Emirati-Kuwaiti student's remaining studies at the University of Sharjah be covered, after he happened to be listening live to a radio call describing her family's situation.
The moment unfolded during a live broadcast of the "Direct Line" programme on Sharjah Broadcasting Authority radio. A woman who identified herself as "Umm Maryam" called in to explain that her daughter was enrolled at the University of Sharjah, but that the family's ability to pay for her education had collapsed after her Kuwaiti husband's citizenship was revoked, cutting off the sponsorship that had been covering the tuition.
Sheikh Sultan, who was tuned in to the programme at the time, issued the directive to fund the scholarship before the mother had even finished recounting her family's circumstances. Mohammed Khalaf, Director-General of the Sharjah Broadcasting Authority and the programme's host, interrupted the call on air to announce the ruler's decision directly to the caller and to listeners.
Under the directive, the University of Sharjah will cover the student's remaining 18 months of study in full, removing the financial uncertainty that had threatened to interrupt her degree.
The gesture is the latest example of the Ruler of Sharjah's well-known pattern of responding swiftly and personally to cases raised by residents, and it has again drawn public attention to Sharjah's live radio programmes as a direct channel through which ordinary families' difficulties can reach the emirate's leadership.