ABU DHABI // Secondary school reforms have achieved little over the past decade and the country risks creating a "lost generation" of pupils who are unprepared for higher education, a college director said yesterday.
Uncoordinated reform programmes, high turnover among officials and poorly directed spending were blamed by Farid Ohan, the director of the Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology, for the failure to improve government schools.
"I've been here 12 years," he said. "The evidence that we've not made the progress we should be making in education reform is that we talk about it in the same way we did 12 years ago."
Educators have become increasingly outspoken about problems with the public school system, and many have said drastic changes are needed if the country hopes to meet the Government's goal of providing "first-rate education" by the year 2021.
"We still have a very long way to go in this country, despite the fact there's a willingness to try to change," said Michael O'Brien, the associate academic dean of education at the Higher Colleges of Technology.
Dr Ohan, speaking at the National Education Research Forum at Sharjah Women's College, said the country "cannot afford to take all this time" to improve school standards. He said pupils were still graduating from secondary schools with inadequate skills.
"We're losing our young generation," he said. "It has an impact on society, on Emiratisation, on economic success."
Up to 90 per cent of students arrive at Sharjah Women's College and Sharjah Men's College with too little education, he said. The students must undergo costly foundation programmes before beginning their university studies.
"The students coming out of high school are still deficient in basic disciplines, especially language, mathematics and sciences," Dr Ohan said.
"There have been some improvements, but not at the rate we would want it. There isn't the sense of urgency that's needed. I would like to see this [recognised] as a national problem that people say we will solve sooner rather than later."
Dr Ohan said too many organisations had their own reforms, adding there "really needs to be more co-ordination" at the national level.
He also said high turnover among senior officials hampered efforts to introduce reforms, and that models imported from overseas were unlikely to work here.
"We're bringing these people from outside who want to import - their ideas that don't necessarily fit in with the needs of the country," he said.
Lack of resources was not the issue, he also said, but rather how the money was spent.
Emirati parents, too, appear to be losing confidence in government education. A recent study showed that 52 per cent of Emirati children in Dubai attend private schools; five years ago the figure was 37 per cent.
Although there have been many initiatives to develop improved teaching methods and curricula, officials have said a lack of qualified teachers remains one of the biggest challenges facing state education.
Most new teachers entering the UAE system have, on average, just two weeks' training, according to Ministry of Education research, and fewer than half have degrees in education.
Christina Gitsaki, the Unesco chair in applied research in education, said some UAE schools used educational practices, such as the memorisation of facts, that were a century old.
"The whole emphasis on rote memorisation and traditional teacher-centred approaches are still widely used in the UAE," she said during a presentation at the forum.
Schools should focus on "inquiry-based learning" and "student-centred learning", Dr Gitsaki said.
Ten years ago, the Ministry of Education released its Vision 2020 plan, which pledged to encourage creativity instead of memorisation, and to shift the focus away from having a teacher lecturing.
"Even though these sentiments were expressed 10 years ago," Mr O'Brien said, little progress had been made in achieving those aims.
"Often there are initiatives started that don't get carried through to their conclusion, or we have different agencies trying to achieve the same end and maybe the co-operation could be more effective," he said.
Clifton Chadwick, a senior lecturer in international education management and policy development at the British University in Dubai, said Dr Ohan's comments were "right on the money".
"We need a lot of teacher training and we need incentives to make people stay" in teaching, he said.
Dr Chadwick said consultants brought in to aid reform efforts often became disenchanted and left because "they don't find a responsive atmosphere".
dbardsley@thenational.ae
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
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Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
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Huddersfield Town permanent signings:
- Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
- Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
- Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
- Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
- Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
- Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
- Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
- Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
Result
UAE (S. Tagliabue 90 1') 1-2 Uzbekistan (Shokhruz Norkhonov 48', 86')
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
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Champions League Last 16
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Sporting Lisbon (POR) v Manchester City (ENG)
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57%20Seconds
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