A Sharjah pupil found herself in a class of her own when she returned to school for the start of the new term.
Shatha Al Qadi, 15, decided to resume in-person lessons in the New Year at Al Shola Private School in Al Falah but had no classmates for company as remote learning continues to hold sway in the emirate in the age of Covid-19.
Education authorities in Sharjah provided parents with the option of continuing distance learning - first implemented in March to slow the spread of the virus - or traditional face-to-face lessons.
“I did online learning for two weeks in the first semester, but I didn’t like it,” said Shatha, a Grade 10 pupil.
“So this semester, I decided to come back to school since I had the option, but as you can see, I came to an empty classroom.
“I was scared at first to come back to school but seeing all these measures in place, I felt it would be fine.
“I would like to see more classmates back to school.”
Classrooms remained largely empty at Shatha's school and across the emirate's 116 private schools.
Of the 168,766 pupils taught on the first day of term on Sunday, only 19,198 (12.8 per cent) were present in classrooms.
While attending to Shatha’s education, her teacher was also giving remote lessons to pupils who opted for online learning.
Class sizes at the school have been capped to 12 line with social distancing measures.
Shatha's class was set up for a maximum of nine pupils, but so far only she has opted for in-person lessons.
Her schoolmate Sarah Ebraheem, 15, in Grade 11, learned from home the entire first term.
“But the atmosphere in a classroom is more stimulating, so I decided on in-class learning for this semester,” said Sarah.
Just 97 of 647 pupils in grades 9 to 12 opted to return to their seats at Al Shola Private School.
“The number of those in campus, is slightly higher among younger pupils but overall, the majority of pupils opted for online learning,” said Ibraheem Barakeh, director of Al Shola Schools Group.
“In Kindergarten we have 78 per cent of pupils come to school, but then the percentage declines the older the pupils are.”
According to statistics from the school, 42 per cent pupils attend classes in school from grades 1 to 4, with this figure dropping to 28 per cent for grades 5 to 8.
Of the 9,133 pupils served by the five schools in the Al Shola group, 3,234 are currently attending lessons in person.
Mr Barakeh believes a blended approach to education is challenging for pupils and puts teachers under pressure to manage lessons for those in class and others who are behind screens.
“The way I see it, it should either be all online education or all in-class education, but the second option is only a possibility once a vaccine has proven efficient,” he said.
Mr Barakah believes ongoing concerns over catching the virus are a key factor in the high number of pupils opting to learn online.
“Other reasons are related to how older pupils enjoy more freedom at home or feel that the time spent on the road is a wasted time, and also to how they feel they are better off away from all safety requirements if they came to school,” he said.
Safety implications remain at the forefront of parents' minds.
Sahar Hamzeh, whose son in Grade 7 is diabetic, found keeping her son home gave her greater peace of mind.
“I wouldn’t want to risk his life and since I was given an option allowing him to study home, I certainly did so to ensure his safety,” she said.
“Sending him to school means putting him at the risk of catching the Covid-19 infection.”
Aidah Ahmad said remote learning was more cost-effective after the pandemic took a financial toll on her family.
“My husband was dismissed from his job, and saving school transportation money was one way to cut down expenses,” said Ms Ahmad, a mother of a 9th grader who studies online.
Sharjah Private Education Authority has formed a 15-member committee, headed by its director Ali Al Hosani, to follow up and evaluate cases of Covid-19 in private schools.
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Results
United States beat UAE by three wickets
United States beat Scotland by 35 runs
UAE v Scotland – no result
United States beat UAE by 98 runs
Scotland beat United States by four wickets
Fixtures
Sunday, 10am, ICC Academy, Dubai - UAE v Scotland
Admission is free
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The biog
Favourite food: Fish and seafood
Favourite hobby: Socialising with friends
Favourite quote: You only get out what you put in!
Favourite country to visit: Italy
Favourite film: Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Family: We all have one!
CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
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Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2-litre%204-cylinder%20mild%20hybrid%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7-speed%20S%20tronic%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E265hp%20%2F%20195kW%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20370Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh260%2C000%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
Match info
Arsenal 0
Manchester City 2
Sterling (14'), Bernardo Silva (64')
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
