DUBAI // Salmeen Khamis has been in and out of the education system many times.
Mr Khamis, 27, first dropped out of school as a teenager to take up a job in Dubai Customs in 2001.
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"I left when I was in Grade 9 to earn for my family," said Mr Khamis, who now works for another government organisation in Dubai.
"There was a lot of disruption in my studies because only my father works and there are nine people in the house."
Instead of spending time in the classroom with books and friends, he tried different jobs to earn a decent salary for his family.
"I left my first job and got a job in immigration," he said.
But in 2003, Mr Khamis realised that if he wanted his career to progress, he would need to complete his education. So he decided to take evening classes to complete his school course.
"It took a while because I was not getting good enough grades to enrol into a university," Mr Khamis said.
After three years he graduated from high school, again leaving for a job before enrolling at Dubai Men's College in 2009.
Mr Khamis is a rare success story. Most school dropouts are disillusioned by constant failure and a restricted education system.
About 22 per cent of the male Emirati population aged between 20 and 24 had dropped out of school and would not return to education, a study found last year.
According to Mike Helal, a co-author of that study, only one in three pupils graduated on time. Almost half (47 per cent) would repeat a year and graduate late, while 21 per cent would drop out without graduating.
"If a quarter of the central part of the national workforce has left school before graduating, this translates into low productivity for the country," Mr Helal said.
He suggested introducing more training for those who had left the education system early.
Adel Al Qeisi, a teacher at the Al Noaman Bin Basheer Secondary School in Ajman, said his school had introduced more interactive classes and field trips to tackle the problem.
"It is common for boys to consider work with the military and police more rewarding," Mr Al Qeisi said.
"But we are trying to divert them by making them aware of different professions and the benefit of learning, even by bringing in role models - professionals and university students - to talk to them."
MH, a 16-year-old Emirati girl who recently dropped out of high school, said many pupils stopped studying because they did not see the point.
"We know not everything we learn at school matters, so it's like wasting time," MH said.
She was unsure whether she would ever finish her education: "I do not really want to go back but I want to do some sessions in photography and get a normal job … but I am still thinking about it."
Pupils like MH need attractive options, said Mr Helal.
"Things like cinematography, travel and tourism in combination with an academic track with a strong career adviser at school," he said.
aahmed@thenational.ae
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
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Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
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The biog
Family: Parents and four sisters
Education: Bachelor’s degree in business management and marketing at American University of Sharjah
A self-confessed foodie, she enjoys trying out new cuisines, her current favourite is the poke superfood bowls
Likes reading: autobiographies and fiction
Favourite holiday destination: Italy
Posts information about challenges, events, runs in other emirates on the group's Instagram account @Anagowrunning
Has created a database of Emirati and GCC sportspeople on Instagram @abeermk, highlight: Athletes
Apart from training, also talks to women about nutrition, healthy lifestyle, diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure