Education
UAE mulls plan to promote walking, cycling
UAE mulls plan to promote walking, cycling Asma Ali Zain / 25 February 2014 The plan would look into providing residents with more options to walk, cycle, exercise, provide easy access to sports facilities as well as educate them on the health benefits of physical activity. The UAE is working out a national plan to encourage its residents to get physically active, even if for 30 minutes a day. The plan would look into providing residents with more options to walk, cycle, exercise, provide easy access to sports facilities as well as educate them on the health benefits of physical activity in a safe environment. It would also address concerns on urban designs and infrastructure and introduce polices in schools. Also see the eight cycling and walking tracks to come up in Dubai by 2015 Policy makers have said that physical activity is critical for population health. Marking it as a public health priority, they said that lack of physical activity is the fourth leading risk factor for global deaths while at least 219,000 deaths occur annually in the region. Guided by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UAE, along with other GCC countries, on Monday drew the first draft of a regional policy on physical activity at a high-level forum being held for the first time in the region. The regional draft will help the UAE government chalk out its own policies that, according to the UN General Assembly, should be in place by 2025. The countries have pledged to reduce physical inactivity by at least 10 per cent over the next four years. The UAE is part of a region where statistics show that over 50 per cent of women are physically inactive, an issue that has led to high rates of deaths due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes and heart diseases, discussed experts at the meeting. “We are developing a regional plan that will guide countries to develop their own policies by addressing challenges,” said Dr Ala Alwan, Regional Director of Eastern Mediterrenean Regional Office (Emro). “The main aim of this forum is to raise awareness on physical activity and the need to tackle the issue with participation of the society and other decision makers,” he explained. Different sectors such as urban planning, health, education, employment and transportation have been roped in to develop a comprehensive strategy. “We now need action on behaviour change through awareness raising and skills development,” he added. “Everybody has the right, and should be able to walk freely, and to have leisure sites and sports available and accessible, regardless of age, gender and culture,” said Dr Alwan. “Urban planning sectors should ensure that streets and parks are available for people to walk in and exercise safely. The education sector should ensure that physical education and activity are an integral part of the school curriculum. The transportation system should be easily accessible so that people rely less on their personal cars. Employers should provide employees with the opportunity to exercise at the worksite,” he added, urging governments to focus policies on these key factors. Several countries such as the UK, Australia and the US shared their experiences in implementing the laws that would enable PA. asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Public sector asked to learn from strategies of corporates
Public sector asked to learn from strategies of corporates Afkar Abdullah / 25 February 2014 Experts at the third day of International Government Communication Forum 2014 suggest governments should heed to public opinion. Governments must learn from the communication experiences of the private sector, according to communication experts in a session during the third day of International Government Communication Forum 2014 (IGCF 2014). The experts were of the opinion that while the private sector worked on improving the methods of communication with its audience and strengthening these to optimise efficiency, the public sector in general and governments in particular relied on unilateral messaging, targeting audiences without heeding to public opinion or citizen feedback. The session explored how best practices from the private sector’s rich experience in communicating with its stakeholders can be drawn upon to develop the nascent public sector’s communication experience. The session also highlighted the media’s perception of the difference between the communication strategies adopted by the public and private sectors. The interactive session was steered by Bill Daley, former White House chief of staff and commerce secretary under Bill Clinton, Bryan Dumont, president of APCO Insight, who is an expert in providing opinion research, Marwan Zawaydeh, chief corporate governance officer at Etisalat, and NartBouran, head of Sky News Arabia. Paula Yacoubian from Future TV moderated the session. Explaining how the private sector can help develop the nascent public sector’s communication experience, Daley said: “The public sector needs to become more modern in using the tools of communication and research just as the private sector does. However, governments deal with complicated communication as they have a filter for everything they do. Governments are able to learn about processes and technology but they do not have the same ease as the private sector in communicating their messages. He added: “It has always been important for governments to be transparent. Now with social media, anyone can be a reporter so it is very difficult to build trust. Often, the private sector, when confronted with a problem, has time to find the cause of that problem, whereas governments do not have the time to investigate before communicating. If in such a situation the government miscommunicates, the trust is broken and government credibility stands to be lost.” Underlining what the public sector can learn from the communication experiences of the private sector, Bryan Dumont explained: “Private sector companies know how to build brand and how to measure results of communication. In the changing landscape, private companies are finding it difficult to have one-way communication as they also have multiple stakeholders, so the era of pushing messages is going away. “There is a lot that governments can learn about the techniques of communication from the private sector, such as truly listening to stakeholders and their expectations and the need of corporate positioning to be authentic and in the area of building emotional relationships. Human beings do not respond to communication in a rational way and governments need to have the capacity to evoke the same emotions and champion the interests of its stakeholders. And lastly, all of this has to be measured to know the true impact.” Highlighting how the private sector can contribute to the development of new communication methods for governments, Marwan Zawaydeh said: “The public sector is heading in the right direction and is following the footsteps of the private sector to be closer to the customer via bi-directional communication. To give you an example, a majority of telecommunication companies moved from being government entities to becoming private companies. “The shift demanded these companies to become more customer-oriented for ensuring the continuity of customer satisfaction on one hand, and catering to evolving demands on the other. Towards this process, a strategy had to be created to develop work structures and improve customer feedback mechanisms across all available channels of communication.” NartBouran highlighted the media’s perspective on the relation with governments. He said: “Today, communication is no longer restricted to one party and is more of a dialogue. Our experiences are based on mutual dialogue generated from listening to the public. I see the need to rebuild our systems to adapt to internal communication and handle the sheer amount of data we receive and send every day.” He added: “There are two elements that dominate the relationship between the government and media: transparency and trust, and this depends mainly on the government to provide us with accurate information and data that easily reflect the level of constructive cooperation with the media. In return, the media must respect the privacy of some government sources and maintain the confidentiality of the sources to ensure the continuity of mutual trust and the flow of information and data in a way that serves the interests of both parties and keep the general public informed of what is happening around them.” afkarali@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Confusion over admission age for KG1 children
Confusion over KG1 admission age for kids prevails Olivia Olarte-Ulherr / 25 February 2014 According to the new rules by the MoE the new admission age for KG1 should be four years, KG2 is five years and Grade 1 is six years. While the admission age for new students was already made clear to schools across the UAE, many private schools, however, are still waiting to hear from their respective education zones. “Till now we did not receive (a circular) from the Ministry of Education (MoE) and so we will inquire about this from the MoE. I know they already sent a letter to some areas,” said Said Al Najjar, principal of the Elite American Private School in Umm Al Quwain. Classes at the school are still ongoing and registration for the new academic year has yet to commence. The Elite currently accepts three year olds by September 15 for its KG1. “We are not registering (new students) yet. But once we receive the circular, we will apply the rule,” he affirmed. The Modern Indian School, Dibba Branch, has started accepting registration for their new academic year in April, but has yet to receive word from the Fujairah education zone if they need to abide by the new admission age of four years old for KG1. “We are accepting three years old for KG1 for now but we are still waiting. We didn’t receive any circular and we already inquired with the Fujairah education zone but they said they will get back to us,” said a school staff. The St Mary’s Catholic School, which offers the Indian and British curricula in Fujairah, also said they have not received any circular on this regard. “We have followed-up so many times with the MoE Fujairah but have received no circular, so we will go ahead as usual,” said Layla Mohammed, the Arabic secretary at the school. The school accepts 3.5 years for KG1. Its CBSE curriculum starts in April while classes at the British curriculum commences in September. According to the new rules by the MoE, which is now enforced in public and private schools in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman, the new admission age for KG1 (or Foundation Stage 2) should be four years, KG2 (or Year 1) is five years and Grade 1 (or Year 2) is six years. Students should reach the minimum age by the end of April for those joining the Bangladesh schools in January, by July 31 for Asian and Indian schools commencing classes in April and by December 31 for other curricula that starts their school year in September. The new admission age takes effect this 2014-2015 academic year. This applies only to new students and will not affect those currently studying. The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) confirmed last week that the new rules do not apply to private schools in Dubai and that “the minimum age is determined by each school/curricula.” According to Dr Haleemah Sadia, principal of the Indian International School Sharjah, her school has already registered new students prior to receiving the circular in January. “We have 150 admissions from the early registration but now we have stopped and are registering as per the new age criteria. We are now in the process of trying to get approval from the MoE for them (early admissions),” she told Khaleej Times. The school previously accepted three year olds for KG1. The Gulf Asian English School in Sharjah and the Indian School in Ras Al Khaimah also confirmed that its new admission age for KG1 is now four years by July 31. The Ajman Modern School, meanwhile, has already set its admission age at four years for KG1 and five years for KG2 by December 31. The American school previously accepted 3.3 years for KG1. Parents from across the country expressed their concern, especially those whose kids are affected by the cut-off. Anitta Joy, a mother from Abu Dhabi, said that her daughter will be four years by August 12, and just 12 days shy of the minimum admission age for the Indian school. Asiya Shaikh has applied at two schools in Ras Al Khaimah for her daughter but was denied admission as she did not reach the age requirement by 19 days while Lakshmi, from Sharjah, said that her daughter is a month less. All mothers are hoping to get special approval from their respective education zones. “This new rule has made a whole lot of mess and has put lot of parents under stress,” complained Lakshmi. Santhosh Joseph from Abu Dhabi is in the same boat. He has been told that his child is four days less than the minimum age requirement and should apply only next year as per the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) rule. “What can we do, we have to wait for one year as there is no chance. My wife and I are just worried that there is an age limit for KG1 and she will be overage at 4.7 years next year,” he pointed out. According to the Adec’s Private School and Quality Assurance (PSQA) sector, there is “no exemption” to the new age rule even if a child is a day short of the cut-off dates. It added that there is also no age ceiling for KG1 and that a child of 4.7 years can still enrol next year. Continuing students Swapna Edward’s son is finishing KG1 in India this March and she plans to bring him to Abu Dhabi to continue his studies. She approached the Indian schools here but was told that he is two months short for the KG2 admission age. “Many Indian schools informed us if the transfer is from India, the ‘new age rule’ will be followed, (but) if he is studying in the UAE, then they can consider. So I approached the Adec directly and got a positive reply that he can continue in KG2. They informed me that ‘there is no separate rule for transfer from India’,” Edward said. The Adec confirmed that once a child has a certificate showing he finished KG1, his studies will not be disturbed and he can continue his studies here similar to other continuing students, regardless of the age. In a circular sent to schools by the Adec in December 2013, it noted that the new enrolment ages do “not apply to any current or transferring students”. olivia@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
