Time is like fossil fuel – once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. Few people realise this more than parents in the UAE, who spend considerable time and, indeed, money on their children's education.
In his books Third Wave and Future Shock, the political philosopher Alvin Toffler warns that the future is a swirling vortice and we had better be ready for it.
Reading Toffler’s work, I felt like a doctor facing an epidemic and trying to figure out whether I should let the patients die or do my best to help them.
Depending on your point of view, Future Shock, written in 1970, is either a book of prophecies or a manual on global politics and economy.
Whatever it is, it opened my eyes to the dire state of education all over the world. The future of education is not about projects or ideas, but whether or not we have what Toffler calls the ability to cope – that is the readiness to tackle different sets of conditions at once.
Forget innovation, creativity and soft skills. What’s the use if students can’t think, analyse and comprehend? Sadly, this is what passes for education in some schools.
Last summer, a desperate mother came to me saying: “My son can’t read. Can you help me?” The soon-to-be second grader lacked the understanding of basic phonics.
Are schools being reduced to expensive babysitters?
This is what many parents are asking themselves as we approach the end of this school year.
Costs are rising and before this school year ends, many schools administrators will demand at least some of next year’s fees in advance. If you are going to change your mind, it’s going to hurt you, because you are unlikely to get your money back.
This is one of the reasons why some families are looking to leave the country.
They are thinking to move to other countries where public education is free and private education represents, in their minds at least, better value for money.
They are tired of teachers coming and going and schools that clean up only during inspections.
“We don’t have homework during inspection,” one student told me.
“We have hand sanitisers and clean toilets when inspectors come, and the teachers don’t shout at us,” another child said to her mother.
“Next year I will be paying Dh100,000 for my twins to enter grade 4,” one parent told me.
However, she does not have the money and is looking to move to Europe, where she will have the option to admit her children to a public school, even though she will have to pay for a few years of private tuition to help with her children’s learn a new language.
The other option is home schooling.
This has always been the cheaper option and with the arrival of online curricula such as K-12, homeschool programmes and curricula have become more popular.
The providers hold seminars and meetings to lure parents out of traditional schools.
The catch with homeschooling is that these systems – which are free in some other parts of the world – cost tens of thousands of dirhams here.
Education was once considered to be a great equaliser that narrowed the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
Now, it’s one that widens the gap between the well-off and well educated, and those who are struggling to keep their children in school and not always getting their money’s worth.
Maryam Ismail is a sociologist and teacher who divides her time between the US and the UAE
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Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
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Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
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if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
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Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
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Teams
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
Fixtures
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Oman
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
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Tottenham's 10 biggest transfers (according to transfermarkt.com):
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4). Son Heung-min - Bayer Leverkusen - £25m: Success
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6). Vincent Janssen - AZ Alkmaar - £18m: Flop
7). David Bentley - Blackburn Rovers - £18m: Flop
8). Luka Modric - Dynamo Zagreb - £17m: Success
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The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
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Tomorrow 2021
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
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The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
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- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
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- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
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• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane
• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming
• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi
• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year
• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away
• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition
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Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
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School counsellors on mental well-being
Schools counsellors in Abu Dhabi have put a number of provisions in place to help support pupils returning to the classroom next week.
Many children will resume in-person lessons for the first time in 10 months and parents previously raised concerns about the long-term effects of distance learning.
Schools leaders and counsellors said extra support will be offered to anyone that needs it. Additionally, heads of years will be on hand to offer advice or coping mechanisms to ease any concerns.
“Anxiety this time round has really spiralled, more so than from the first lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Priya Mitchell, counsellor at The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi.
“Some have got used to being at home don’t want to go back, while others are desperate to get back.
“We have seen an increase in depressive symptoms, especially with older pupils, and self-harm is starting younger.
“It is worrying and has taught us how important it is that we prioritise mental well-being.”
Ms Mitchell said she was liaising more with heads of year so they can support and offer advice to pupils if the demand is there.
The school will also carry out mental well-being checks so they can pick up on any behavioural patterns and put interventions in place to help pupils.
At Raha International School, the well-being team has provided parents with assessment surveys to see how they can support students at home to transition back to school.
“They have created a Well-being Resource Bank that parents have access to on information on various domains of mental health for students and families,” a team member said.
“Our pastoral team have been working with students to help ease the transition and reduce anxiety that [pupils] may experience after some have been nearly a year off campus.
"Special secondary tutorial classes have also focused on preparing students for their return; going over new guidelines, expectations and daily schedules.”
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Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.
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We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment.
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