Video: Meet Saudi woman who graduated at 70

Riyadh: A 70-year-old woman Saudi woman recently graduated with a distinction from Imam Abdul Rahman bin Faisal University.

Salwa Al-Omani achieved a 4.75/5 GPA, ranked first in her class, and received an excellence award at the university’s 44th graduation ceremony.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, Salwa recounted how she had successfully overcome the difficult task of returning to school after a long and challenging life.

At the age of 17, she completed high school with excellent grades and had aspirations to study chemistry.

However, marriage and other responsibilities took her away from further studies. Despite these distractions, her interest in education continued.

In 2016, she began researching ways to return to her education and faced challenges such as outdated systems and lost documentation of her high school diploma.

She started in intermediate second grade and later enrolled in Imam Abdul Rahman bin Faisal University.

“My strong interest and ongoing relationship with the Department of Education in the Eastern Province allowed me to get permission from the Department of Education to continue my studies,” she said.

She described her graduation ceremony as “touching and timeless.”

Al-Omani added, “There is no such thing as ‘impossible’ in determination,” hope should not be lost, and “better late than never.”