The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
A long list of achievements decorates Sahar Cooper’s remarkable 25 year career as an education leader.
But there remains one burning ambition still in her sights before she considers any notion of retirement.
Having lived and worked in the UAE for 20 years, she continues to recognise the importance of recruiting Emirati teachers.
And today, she believes that only by encouraging more men and women from the country to join the profession can the nation maintain its existing success.
"We want more Emiratis to consider teaching in the future, Ms Cooper told The National.
It is a great time to be in this career. Not only in the classroom but also management.
“I have lived here for 20 years and I am committed to the future of education in this country.
“We know there are Emiratis who graduated with education, Arabic, or science who want to become teachers - we want to support that.
“It is a very rewarding profession, to enable a young student to be our leaders of tomorrow.”
Ms Cooper began her teaching career at the Girne American University in Cyprus.
Later, she moved on to join the UAE’s American University of Sharjah as its commercial manager.
Since then, she has gone on to devote almost two decades to various educational platforms across the country, including a role as chief schools operation officer at Gems Education, one of the largest private education providers in the Emirates.
“I was inspired early in my career by the commitment of the UAE to bring quality education to this country,” she said.
“Gems education was experiencing rapid growth and I was helping to open hundreds of schools worldwide with different curriculum.”
After leaving Gems, Ms Cooper joined Aldar Education, another leading education provider, as their chief executive.
She has already been in the role for 18 months, with the number of its employees increasing from 600 to more than 2,000 under her stewardship.
Aldar Education supports 20,000 students across seven academies, six charter schools and four managed Adnoc schools. It also runs a nursery in Abu Dhabi.
According to Ms Cooper, striking a balance between driving business and understanding classroom needs is the key to achieving long-term goals in education.
“Schools are no longer about preparing children for a predefined set of possible careers,” she said.
“It is rather a multiplicity of roles and industries so schools have become more of a learning environment than teaching in blocks.
“We need to understand how education works to help children flourish.
“I have faced the same challenges as children face now, growing in an uncertain world where we don’t know what the opportunities will be in the future.
“As a woman, there have been challenges but it is all about self confidence and self respect.
“It is about being at the right place at the right time, having independence and drive.
“I have never seen myself as different, but equal in competence to any man.”
Today, Ms Cooper is working on plans to partner with the Department of Education and Knowledge in Abu Dhabi and the Human Resource Authority in the capital to put Emirati graduates through a teaching apprenticeship programme.
The idea is to ensure there is enough supply of national teachers at all levels of schooling.
“I want to see a strong education programme across the country as we are an Emirati company committed to shaping the country through young people while providing a sustainable supply of teachers,” she said.
“It is a great time to be in this career. Not only in the classroom but also management.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The team
Videographer: Jear Velasquez
Photography: Romeo Perez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG
Video assistant: Zanong Maget
Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
The biog
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
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
Barbie
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India team for Sri Lanka series
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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In The Heights
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Stars: Anthony Ramos, Lin-Manual Miranda
Rating: ****
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
