On Sunday, along with hundreds of thousands of other parents, I rose early to resume the daily school run as more than one million pupils across the country started the academic year.
It was not, I must admit, a chore to which I was looking forward. It’s easy enough getting up early when it’s my choice to do so, as has been the case on most days since the holidays began a couple of months ago. Somehow, when it’s a matter of duty, it’s a little more difficult.
Whether it's a matter of starting school for the first time, moving to a new school – perhaps after arriving in the UAE for the first time – or simply moving up a year, it's a challenging time both for students and for their parents.
As The National stated last week, it can be an expensive time too, with not just the fees that need to be paid for those in private education but also a host of additional expenditure, such as the purchase of often costly – and sometimes poor quality – uniforms.
I wish all of our students well in the year ahead, whether they are heading for a round of serious examinations next summer or simply getting on with the next year of their preparation for life.
It's appropriate to spare a thought as well for those who devote their lives to trying to equip our children with the skills that they need. Whether as teachers or as administrators and support staff, the dedication of the best of them is to be admired. They receive less attention and less in the way of thanks than they really deserve.
Many decades ago, my mother was a secondary school biology teacher and I still recall her commitment to those who were placed in her charge. For her, as for all good teachers, it wasn’t simply a job. It was a vocation, a desire to impart to her students something of the passion that she felt for her subject. I have no idea whether any of them subsequently took up careers related to biology but many, I suspect, left school with a real and lasting interest in the world around them.
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Read more from Peter Hellyer:
History is not just a dusty irrelevance. Within it lie the seeds of today's successes and failures
I saw firsthand the UAE's efforts to rebuild Socotra
Two special centennials: Mandela and Sheikh Zayed were both symbols of humanity and progress
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Some of the teachers who started the new academic year this week were new in their jobs. For those who moved from one UAE school to another, it was perhaps easier to cope. They’re already accustomed to life in the UAE and will, one hopes, have a circle of friends and acquaintances.
For others, it'll be their first experience of a new school, in a new country. Having arrived here only two or three weeks ago, often knowing no one and nothing of the country, they have had to cope with issues like sorting out visas and accommodation without a personal support network, while getting ready to teach a bunch of students they've never met. That's a tough challenge, even with the help provided by their school's administration.
It’s not surprising, then, that there are always a few no-shows, teachers who have agreed to take up posts and who then, at the last minute, suddenly change their minds.
In some cases, there can be perfectly valid personal reasons – a crisis in the family, perhaps. For others, it might be simply that they’ve received a better financial offer from somewhere else – and for those, one would wish that they had a little more sense of responsibility towards the children they had been recruited to teach.
There will be numerous schools facing the problems created by an unanticipated teacher shortage this week and who will be scrambling around to recruit replacements and to find a permanent solution.
The good schools, of course, will have built some flexibility into their curriculum and timetables so that a missing teacher can be covered for a short period, at least, by existing teachers in the same departments. In primary schools it's easier to fill such gaps, although it becomes much more difficult in the case of a missing specialist teacher in a secondary school.
I wonder, though, whether there isn't scope for the country's education departments to take a new look at promoting the creation of a pool of approved supply teachers. These could be qualified people who might not want permanent posts but who might be willing to take temporary jobs to fill in the unexpected gaps. Such people might already offer evening or weekend part-time extra tuition.
There is a wide range of people here in the Emirates with useful experience and qualifications who, for a variety of reasons, are not seeking full-time employment but would welcome occasional or part-time opportunities. It might require more flexibility at a government level in the thinking, regulations and practices related to employment but facilitation of such part-time work could, I feel, be of benefit, not just in the educational sector but much more widely.
Peter Hellyer is a consultant specialising in the UAE's history and culture
Five hymns the crowds can join in
Papal Mass will begin at 10.30am at the Zayed Sports City Stadium on Tuesday
Some 17 hymns will be sung by a 120-strong UAE choir
Five hymns will be rehearsed with crowds on Tuesday morning before the Pope arrives at stadium
‘Christ be our Light’ as the entrance song
‘All that I am’ for the offertory or during the symbolic offering of gifts at the altar
‘Make me a Channel of your Peace’ and ‘Soul of my Saviour’ for the communion
‘Tell out my Soul’ as the final hymn after the blessings from the Pope
The choir will also sing the hymn ‘Legions of Heaven’ in Arabic as ‘Assakiroo Sama’
There are 15 Arabic speakers from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the choir that comprises residents from the Philippines, India, France, Italy, America, Netherlands, Armenia and Indonesia
The choir will be accompanied by a brass ensemble and an organ
They will practice for the first time at the stadium on the eve of the public mass on Monday evening
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.
As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.
A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.
Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fasset%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2019%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohammad%20Raafi%20Hossain%2C%20Daniel%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%242.45%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2086%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-series%20B%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Investcorp%2C%20Liberty%20City%20Ventures%2C%20Fatima%20Gobi%20Ventures%2C%20Primal%20Capital%2C%20Wealthwell%20Ventures%2C%20FHS%20Capital%2C%20VN2%20Capital%2C%20local%20family%20offices%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Honeymoonish
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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
