Working parents have criticised the “exorbitant” fees of winter camps which offer activities for children over the school holiday.
Hard-pressed families said finding firms with affordable prices was tough, while the operating hours of cheaper companies were often unsuitable.
Some programmes cost around Dh250 a week but are limited to taking youngsters for just a couple of hours a day.
Others are priced much higher at between Dh700 and Dh900 a week, leaving many parents who are unable to take time off from work struggling to meet the extra financial burden.
“Camps with affordable prices are rare and those that do exist won’t keep children for more than three hours,” said Ahlam Eid, 37, a mother-of-two from Jordan who lives in Sharjah.
“Leaving my five-year-old boy and seven-year-old girl at home alone is not an option.
“We needed to find a camp that will accommodate them for about seven hours a day until one of us finishes work and picks them up.”
Many parents begin searching for suitable winter camps for their children in early November.
Coursetakers, an online education platform in the UAE, said some 83 firms were registered on their site.
Of these, 64 per cent are in Dubai and 24 per cent in Abu Dhabi. Just 7 per cent are in Sharjah, 4 per cent in Ajman and only 1 per cent in Ras Al Khaimah.
Ms Eid said she and her husband had finally decided on a winter camp that charged Dh3,000 for both her children for three weeks, but that the fee was still over the family budget.
“School breaks and vacations always drain our budget and we need to save in advance in order to keep things under control,” she said.
Another parent from Abu Dhabi said she no longer sent her children to winter camps because of what she claimed were exorbitant charges.
“It’s becoming way too expensive and my kids are not enjoying them,” said Rima Dandan, a 48-year-old Lebanese national with two children aged 11 and seven.
“We decided to keep them at home during the winter break.”
Maitha Salem, 31, from Ras Al Khaimah, said options for her three children were limited because of a lack of camp numbers in the emirate.
“They should plan more camps as many children stay at home in front of the television without doing any physical activity during the three-week break,” she said.
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Read more:
Why pupils might benefit from swapping the long summer holidays for a winter break instead
Summer learning: the campaign encouraging children to try something new
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Mohammad Urfi, chief technology officer of Coursetakers, said winter camps tended to offer a mixture of activities, from music and art to sport and cooking.
He said the cost of organising classes, hiring staff and providing adequate supervision invariably led to significant costs.
“Winter camps are not just about children playing games anymore,” he said.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Directed by: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring: Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao
Three and a half stars
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The years Ramadan fell in May
