New Sherrif in town

KHDA was at the receiving end when Sunny Varkey on Saturday accused them of "standing" in the way of Dubai's vision of world class education and stifling private investment in the sector. His outburst came after KHDA's refusal to consent to a fee hike for his new school that he claims the authority earlier approved. Varkey has called for an independent review of KHDA's ruling by a higher government body.
"Their actions are a disincentive for the private sector to reinvest in education, especially as there is no clarity on what the KHDA wants from us," said Varkey who is the single-largest provider of private education in the country with 26 schools under his charge.

Mr.Sunny Varkey, the man who made extortion synonymous with the word education having a HISSY FIT.

That just made my day.

Inquiring minds want to know

Gulf News:

Ras Al Khaimah: An American journalist working for an English daily from Abu Dhabi has run over an Egyptian security guard at the entrance of a university here because the guard denied him access to the campus.

The security guard did not allow entry to the journalist identified as "J." because he did not have an "entrance permission" which is a must for visitors as per the university regulations.

Inquiring minds want to know:

• Which RAK university?
• Which English language daily from Abu Dhabi?
• Who is "J." the American journalist?

Harry Potter banned in UAE Private Schools?

I know the following link is a few years old but I found it intriguing:

The bestselling children's book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by JK Rowling has been banned from use in private schools in the United Arab Emirates.

The Ministry of Education and Youth is understood to have made the decision because it believes the story is contrary to Islamic values...

The precise reason for the Potter ban is not known, but tales of the supernatural have reportedly been known to cause unease in some Islamic countries.

The entire BBC article can be read here.

I'm curious to know what the current status is as it's been 6 years since the article was published.

Sheikh Mo in Tony Blair's Speech

An interesting speech by Tony Blair today at the "Islam and Muslims in the world today" conference, hosted by the University of Cambridge.

Important topics of education, (education, education - is there an echo in here, Tony), Islam and integration were touched on.

But the role of education goes much wider than simply religious education. At the recent Middle East World Economic Forum, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the creation of a groundbreaking $10 billion foundation to promote education in Arab countries.

The foundation will focus on human development, supporting and empowering young minds and focusing on research, education and investment in the infrastructure of knowledge. It will provide scholarships for study at world-reputed institutions. In neighbouring Qatar, the Government has invited top international universities to develop an "Education City" with the aim of becoming the beacon of educational excellence in the Arab world.

Many of these initiatives are designed to tap into the ages-old tradition of Islam where - in line with the Koran - knowledge is revered and Muslims urged to pursue it.

The transcript is here.

Sex ed debated in the classroom

Video is available over at uaestudents.blogspot here.

UConn-Dubai planned shelved

Following up on "State lawmaker questions UConn's Dubai plan" from January, today's Gulf News reports that UConn has now "shelved" its plan to open a campus in Dubai.

Interestingly, this newspaper in Connecticut reported that the plan was shelved back in February, so I'm not sure why it is being reported only now here. For that matter, a search of the Gulf News archives seems to indicate that it never reported on the original plan to open the campus either.

The article quotes some UAE academics who blame the move on ignorance and "double standards ... 'motivated by anti-Arab racism'". (Another Gulf News article today quotes James Zogby to similar effect.) The double standards charge seems fair to me. Whether racism is the motivation for it is a matter of opinion, but it may be so.

However, I don't understand the ignorance charge, since the objections that the opponents of the plan raised do not seem to be in dispute. (e.g. Israelis not being allowed to enter the UAE.)

History of Education

My post about Islamic sex education created a divide among fellow community members, i wanted to put forward my opinion to some muslim and non muslims for better understanding of a islamic opinion regarding sex education .... i meant no harm or did not mean to target anyone in perticular....some of the members pointed out that religion, culture should be separated from the education....

Every individual has his or her opinion and no one can force it to change, nor can i. My posts are meant to share my opinion as we live in a country that is home to many nationalities and cultures.... Its all done in Good faith and to create an understanding between each other....

Well the comments i got made me think about the Education part and its relation with religion and culture, is it related to culture and religion or is it not...i came across History of Education in Encarta...It gives you a fair idea that birth of education is directly connected to culture and religion......

Some of us think what we learn in schools make us a better person and thats called education.. While culture educates a person , so does religion and our life we live teaches us lessons as well...

So i forward this link in good faith so people including me can understand and take it as a reminder of relationship between culture, religion and education....... they all go hand in hand... or atleast have connections in the past, present or future...

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561415/History_of_Education.html

P.s... this post in not dedicated to any perticular individual so please try not to take it personally.... i think atleast it will make us look back in history and remind us the basics of education...i believe most of us dont know, to be honest i did not know untill i read it.

Gulf News: evolution theory will be removed from curriculum

Link:

According to Abdul Qader Eisa, Senior Supervisor of Biology at the Curriculum Development Centre in the Ministry of Education, the evolution theory is included in the curriculum for Grade 12 pupils in public schools but will be removed for the next academic year.
...
Public schools have only three classes per week in biology and the new curriculum cover demands the need to include a wide array of new "crucial topics such as the human systems, and recent advances in DNA technologies."
...
Private schools are permitted to address the subject as a scientific theory only without rejecting creationism.

Ironically, transmission of characteristics through genetics (r.e. DNA) is the mechanism that filled in a blank in Darwin's theory - it was unknown at his time.

As a practical matter it is a good thing that genetics will still be taught given its connection to high level of birth defects due to the high rate of "consanguineous marriages among UAE nationals" (Centre for Arab Genomic Studies, Dubai, Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Science). Surely blood tests before marriage will continue to be required.

The Jewish school where half the students are Muslim

Cool story via The Sudanese Thinker blog.

...half the 247 pupils at the 40-year-old local authority-supported school are Muslim, and apparently the Muslim parents go through all sorts of hoops, including moving into the school's catchment area, to get their children into King David to learn Hebrew, wave Israeli flags on independence day and hang out with the people some would have us believe that they hate more than anyone in the world.

Read the rest of this heartwarming story here: The Independent Online

State lawmaker questions UConn's Dubai plan

I hadn't heard that the University of Connecticut was planning on opening a Dubai campus, but this plan isn't getting a warm reception from Rep. Andrew M. Fleischmann, the co-chair of the state General Assembly's Education Committee:

"[I]t's always important to understand whom you are partnering with...

"There are major questions that have been raised about human rights in Dubai... [A] critical first step would be for Dubai and the rest of the United Arab Emirates to agree to start living by certain basic standards of human rights and worker rights that appear to be neglected there now.

"There are people living in Dubai right now ... who are, functionally, little more than indentured servants."

The story also sites the Human Rights Watch report from last December.