Rise in cost of education is not surprising

Parents should teach their children to revere education, a reader says. Other topics: money, maternity leave

Parents should teach their children to revere education, a reader says. Christopher Pike / The National

Regarding the article UAE parents worry over school costs as cost of living rises (August 15), while I have some sympathy with parents feeling the dual pinch of the new academic year and Eid Al Adha coming almost at the same time, this should not come as a sudden shock. The calendar is no secret and wise budgeters realise there are certain times of the year when their funds may be under stress.

What I find much more difficult to understand is why someone on a tight budget even entertains their child’s demands for branded pencils, bags and other items.

Years ago I walked in the Himalayas. Having a pencil – any pencil – entitled a child to go to school so we handed these out as we travelled. The look of sheer delight on children’s faces will never be forgotten.

Teach your children to revere education and stop perpetrating the nonsense associated with branding. It doesn’t make the pencil work any better.

Judith Finnemore, Al Ain

What to do with excess money?

Justin Thomas's opinion article, If you had money to burn, would you really burn it? (August 15), was interesting. If I had too much money, I would focus mainly on helping people become more knowledgeable and aware of their own existence while making them fully independent. I would then place a large sum on space exploration and science.

However, money seems to add to a large amount of the issues on Earth so capitalistically speaking my efforts would be worthless.

John Sims, Abu Dhabi

Money is the root of all evils. Those who have it want more and those who don’t would sell their souls for it.

We should not become slaves to money, but instead masters of it. Money, like any other asset, should be managed carefully. Billionaires such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Carlos Slim, Mark Zuckerberg, the Koch brothers and Jeff Bezos have more money than they can spend in a lifetime andthey all contribute significantly to charity.

It’s not the amount of money that makes them powerful – it’s the ability to help the less fortunate that makes them powerful people.

Randall Mohammed, Dubai

Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty should have been thrown in jail not just for burning the money that could have fed hundreds of thousands of starving children but also for being the biggest idiots known to mankind.

Ghulmiyyah M Ghulmiyyah, Dubai

I wouldn’t burn it. I will save some for myself and give the rest to charities. That could save many lives.

Annie O'Farrell, Abu Dhabi

If I had a lot of money, I would save some for the future and spend the rest to help the needy.

Shirley Olazo Cortez, Dubai

Maternity leave must be longer

I refer to your editorial Longer leave for mothers is overdue (August 12).

As a new mother, I realise that 45 days of maternity leave isn’t enough. Mothers need to spend much more time with their newborns.

It is also not physically viable for many women to start working a little more than a month after giving birth. The leave has to be longer, but then the discrimination against women being offered jobs will have to be monitored as well.

Caroline Domanska, Dubai

A working mum should be allowed at least six months’ leave so that she can bond and nurture her baby.

She should then be allowed to return to work by choice or necessity without the fear of losing her job or inhibiting her career. The 45-day leave is a joke. Please do the right thing and most women will appreciate it and work harder to contribute to the economy while balancing work and motherhood.

Joanna Ladipo, Dubai