Latest: Dubai parents told to anticipate pupils back in classes after summer
UAE education authorities are laying the groundwork for a possible return to classrooms this September, it was announced on Monday.
Officials said they were drawing up plans to allow the move, with the safety of students and teaching staff their key concern.
Experts said rigorous health measures were being considered at nurseries, schools and universities as part of the nationwide reopening strategy.
Among ideas under discussion were smaller classroom numbers, pupil temperature checks, a ban on sharing food and a 30 per cent cap on school bus passengers.
Schools and universities may also be required to ensure that all maintenance staff are kept off-site during teaching hours. School trips, sport and daily assemblies will also be limited.
Other health measures may include:
- Sterilisation of classrooms, laboratories and other areas on a regular basis.
- Ensuring a health and safety official is in place at all times to oversee precautionary measures.
- Social distancing
News of the plan to reopen schools came as the UAE announced another 378 cases of coronavirus on Monday, taking the total number of infections in the country to 45,303.
Officials also said another 631 patients had recovered from the virus, while one patient had died.
To date, 33,046 residents in the Emirates have recovered from the disease, amounting to some 75 per cent of patients.
About 12,000 cases are still active and more than three million people across the UAE have been tested.
Also on Monday, the UAE Minister of Health and Prevention urged the public to take greater care not to inadvertently spread false information on social media.
Abdulrahman Al Owais said the circulation of inaccurate information on Covid-19 had proved hard to dispel.
Speaking at an online global health summit on Monday, Mr Al Owais said discussion was needed to address how online platforms should be used during pandemics.
His warning came as case numbers of the virus in the UAE continued to drop, allowing some authorities to relax travel restrictions further.
“The misinformation coming through social media was challenging for all governments in that we had to be very quick in responding to it,” Mr Al Owais said.
“They [the public] wanted to help but sending misinformation really created a mess that put added pressure on different government sectors.
“When we had the Sars crisis there was no social media so we didn’t have these issues.
"You can’t count the number of lessons we have learnt and are still learning.”
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
The biog
Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology
Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India
Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur
How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993
Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters
Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo
LIVING IN...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
