The new school year has brought many changes. Perhaps the most significant of those changes is the introduction of the new moral education classes. As The National reported, government and private schools will deliver a lesson per week on a range of topics aimed at making pupils "look into themselves and consider how they perceive the world". Tariq Al Otaiba, senior associate for strategic affairs at the Crown Prince Court, said the moral education programme is designed to give students the ability to "think critically, to question, to look at the world through a moral spectrum". Intriguingly, there will be no textbooks for students to refer to. "It was never designed to be a course taught in a book," he added.
There is much to admire in the programme. Far too much learning is still done by rote in far too many schools in this country. If the moral education programme can shift the mentality to open up the minds of students then it will have more than fulfilled its purpose.
If there is a note of caution to sound it is about the absence of structure. This is both a blessing and a curse. Instructors must tread cautiously. Discursive discussion is a rare commodity in classrooms that are often focused only on getting through the demands of the curriculum and achieving success in end-of-year exams. Critical thinking should be encouraged in young minds, but we also hope that those who do discuss the moral education programme with students do apply at least some rigour. The risk is that without some structure to these lessons, the full promise of the course will not be delivered.
All of that will be for assessing once the programme is fully up and running. For now it is worth repeating that this an interesting and welcome addition to the academic timetable. Ultimately, we want our education system to produce rounded individuals. We want young people to be tolerant and understanding and for them to be functioning and reasonable members of society once they become adults. The hope is that the moral education programme will be central to achieving that ambition.
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Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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MATCH INFO
Bangla Tigers 108-5 (10 ovs)
Ingram 37, Rossouw 26, Pretorius 2-10
Deccan Gladiators 109-4 (9.5 ovs)
Watson 41, Devcich 27, Wiese 2-15
Gladiators win by six wickets
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
