KUWAIT, Sept 17 (KUNA) -- Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) announced on Monday signing an agreement with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for a project, financed by KNPC, to end violence against students.

KNPC said in a statement that Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of the company Fahad Al-Ajmi signed the agreement with Deputy Resident Representative Stein Hansen.

Al-Ajmi expressed KNPC's "pride" in supporting this project to combat school violence, adding it "is the first of its kind in Kuwait and the region, and reflects KNPC's leadership's interest in educating strong generations that reject hostile behavior." For his part, Hansen expressed his satisfaction for participating in the implementation of this initiative, "which requires everyone to work hard in order to make it work, making it an example for other companies." Hansen explained that after the completion of this project, UNDP together with KNPC will prepare an integrated study for this experience, its implications and the possibility of applying it in other regional countries.

Furthermore, KNPC Deputy Managing Director for Planning & Local Marketing Bakhit Al-Rashidi said that the project "is part of the social responsibility of the company and includes an awareness campaign aimed at reducing violence in all its forms over the Internet." He added that the project "includes training 20-30 Kuwaiti youngsters who possess leadership qualities on the concepts of adaptation and flexibility in order to respond to violence against youth." Al-Rashidi said that these youngsters will visit several schools to educate students about these concepts, indicating that KNPC will implement an extensive media campaign about the project, which will include a number of publications and press meetings to shed light on the project and its significance.

The two-year project aims to increase public awareness, help initiate change in behavior among high school students against anti-social behavior and reduce the impact of such incidents on the students' abilities to participate in the national development process.