DUBAI // The emirate's education authority says that public schools in Dubai are understaffed and in need of 102 more teachers.
After conducting a school by school review, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) found a shortfall of 81 female and 21 male teachers, with the greatest deficit in maths, where 17 women and three men are required.
Fatima al Marri, the chief executive of the KHDA's schools agency and a member of the Federal National Council (FNC), said low pay scales and a lack of incentives have deterred UAE nationals, particularly men, from entering the profession - which contributes to the shortage.
Ms al Marri also raised the issue during a recent FNC session and described the problem as long-standing. According to figures cited during the session, government schools across the country are missing almost 800 teachers.
The Ministry of Education, however, says that any shortage is due to paperwork involved in bringing teachers into the country and will soon be resolved.
The Minister of Education, Humaid al Qattami, downplayed any lack of teachers at the FNC session, and said the shortage represented only one to two per cent of the total number of teachers the ministry employed.
Last week, Ali Maihad al Suwaidi, the director general of the Ministry of Education, said there was no shortage and staffing issues at the beginning of the academic year were due only to paperwork.
"Every year we recruit about 800 new teachers. Now we are short of just five or six teachers in every emirate and that too because they have been recruited from outside and paperwork takes some time," Mr al Suwaidi said.
Local educators say that reliance on foreign teachers to replace those who have left is not desirable because it erodes students' national identity and the country's culture.
Dr Maryam Sultan Lootah, an assistant professor of political science at UAE University, has researched all the education policies implemented in the country and believes that bringing in native English speakers to teach Arab children should not be seen as a method to improve the education system.
"These teachers do not come with an understanding of our culture, so how will the children learn about it," she said. "Also, these teachers cannot speak Arabic, so how can they teach the students who may not understand them properly? This is cheating."
At the FNC session, Ms al Marri said a European teacher at one high school had compared the tawaf (the Muslim practice of walking around the Ka'aba in Mecca) to idolatry, and had also called some of his students "terrorists".
While the extent of any shortage is a matter of debate, all parties agree that there is a problem in the composition of the public school faculty, with too few Emirati males.
The ministry says there are just over 500 male Emirati teachers in government schools, which works out to one teacher in 10. Ms al Marri said the number of male Emirati teaching graduates in the Higher Colleges of Technology is dwarfed by the number of females.
Yousef al Shehhi, the principal of Al Rams Secondary School in Ras al Khaimah, said this was a big problem for boys. "Emirati men do not like being teachers," he noted. "Firstly, the salary is so low and then they do not get housing and other benefits that they could get in other jobs."
Public school teachers earn salaries that do not exceed Dh16,000 a month, which Ms al Marri described as a "very small" amount considering how hard they work.
Michael O'Brien, associate academic dean of education at the Higher Colleges of Technology, said there had been a 60 per cent increase in students enrolling for teacher education since 2007, but added that it was still a challenge to attract young men to the profession.
"Young men can be attracted to teaching by a professional career ladder, where increasing competence and responsibility is matched by career advancement and increasing remuneration," he said.
Ministry officials said they were working on raising the salaries and setting up a licensing programme for teachers to raise standards. "We do not want this to be a profession for those who do not have a profession," Mr al Suwaidi said. "We will be selecting them carefully from the top percentage of teacher graduates."
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A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
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