NEWS FROM THE UAE
Source : The National
Freeze on school fees ordered in Dubai
DUBAI - MAR 18: Private schools in Dubai will be barred from increasing fees this year, the emirate's Knowledge and Human Development Authority has ordered.
Parents have welcomed the freeze, but some schools say it could lower the quality of education in the emirate.
In a letter to schools that focused on the economic downturn and the financial hardships faced by families, Mohammed Darwish, the chief of the regulations and compliance commission at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), the emirate’s education regulator, said schools needed to “adapt to our changed circumstances”.
“Like everywhere, people are experiencing financially difficult times,” he said.
“All of us must equally share the enormous responsibility to make sure that the children of Dubai do not have their education disrupted because of the economic downturn that has swept the world.”
The letter does not explicitly use the word “barred”, but it makes it clear the powerful regulator would take a dim view of schools that push for fee increases.
“We would be concerned to have such requests resubmitted, as we feel that we have made the case very clear,” Mr Darwish said.
The letter said the one exemption would be for schools that had to make a large capital outlay, such as moving premises.
Ralph Tabberer, spokesman for the Dubai Private Schools Group, which represents 32 institutions that educate roughly 40 per cent of the emirate’s school-aged population, said it was “seeking an urgent meeting” with the KHDA to discuss the decision. Eight operators representing 12 schools out of the 140 private institutions in Dubai have applied for fee increases so far this year. Several school administrators said higher fees were necessary to compete for high-quality staff and to make school improvements.
Bassam Abushakra, the regional director of Esol, which operates two schools in Dubai, said he would need to increase tuition at once despite the economic downturn.
Esol has not put in a formal request to increase fees but will do so, he said.
“We feel they should consider increases on a case-by-case basis. Some schools are in a situation where they have been operating in a deficit for a long time,” Mr Abushakra said.
He said that one of the group’s Dubai schools faced this problem because tuition fees were set too low when the school opened five years ago.
Annual fee caps have prevented them from catching up with their competitors, he said.
Mr Abushakra said rents had gone down in Dubai, but his group had not reduced teachers’ housing allowances, which have remained at Dh61,000 a year.
Othman Abdel Bari, the director of the American International School in Dubai, said that fee increases were sometimes needed simply to improve the quality of a school.
“Last year we did not increase our fees because of the economic situation,” he said. “Every single school in Dubai needs to increase by at least seven per cent,” he added, pointing to the decision last year that even allowed “unsatisfactory” schools such an increase.
The KHDA has been imposing fee caps in Dubai for the past three years.
In 2007 it allowed schools to increase fees by as much as 16 per cent. In 2008, schools that had not adopted that increase were allowed to raise fees to that level.
And last year, it tied increases to school performance, with top schools being granted a 15 per cent increase.
Almost nine out of 10 parents with children enrolled in nurseries, schools or universities said fees were expensive, according to a recent survey by YouGov, an international research organisation. Only 12 per cent said schools were good value or very reasonable.
Jerus Moss, a mother of three from the Bahamas living in Dubai, said she supported the freeze. “With the economic crisis, a lot of people have been laid off,” she said. “Hopefully, by next school year the economy will pick up and everything will go back to normal.”
Greening the UAE blamed for leap in hay fever
ABU DHABI - MAR 18: The good news is that UAE beautification projects are providing more parks, gardens and grassy areas to enjoy. The bad news is they could be making residents ill.
A study, the first of its kind in the country, shows more than a third of adults in Al Ain suffer from hay fever, making the pollen-linked condition far more common than would be expected in a predominantly desert environment.
Experts blame an increase in green landscaping in cities and towns over the past 10 years.
Hay fever in Dubai and Abu Dhabi could be even more common because of high levels of pollution and dust, said Dr Shirina Alsowaidi, an assistant professor of allergy and immunology in internal medicine at UAE University in Al Ain, who led the research.
“Such massive environmental changes may have had a huge adverse impact on the prevalence of allergic diseases, with the introduction of thousands of new plants and trees that were never seen in the UAE until a decade ago,” Dr Alsowaidi said.
“The findings can be used as an indicator of the overall prevalence of allergic rhinitis across the UAE.”
Allergic rhinitis is an inflammation of the nose causing nasal blockage, sneezing, a runny nose and irritation. The most common type is hay fever, which is caused by the pollen of certain types of plants.
The research, published in the February edition of the journal Allergy, found more than a third of 6,543 respondents suffered from allergic rhinitis. More than seven out of 10 of those said it interfered with their daily activities and a third said they suffered from symptoms for more than three months of the year. The symptoms were most severe in the spring.
Airborne particles that attack sinuses and produce allergic reactions can come not only from major public parks, but also trees bordering roads, flowers planted in medians and hectares of new grass.
In Abu Dhabi, the municipality has announced plans for 12 new parks, and Dubai is also greening up. Last year, 27 million plants were added as part of a plan to increase park space by four per cent.
The new study is the country’s inaugural research on allergies in adults. However, in 1994, a study found that allergens affect more than one in five children in the country. Doctors across the country have been noticing an increase in the number of patients being diagnosed with the problem.
Dr Bassam Mahboub, an associate professor on the medical faculty at the University of Sharjah, said: “Numbers are definitely going up, and we know that there are more allergies in Al Ain than in the other cities."
However, he cautioned that exposure to plants is not the only cause of allergic rhinitis. There are also genetic components that put the Arabic population more at risk.
“If you have the symptoms of the common cold most of the time, then this is most likely allergic rhinitis. If you sneeze with an itchy nose or face, then this is most likely allergic rhinitis.”
Although it is not as dangerous as other diseases, Dr Mahboub said studies show it can be as damaging to a person’s quality of life as diabetes or high cholesterol.
Raids on labour camp restaurants see third of a ton of unfit food destroyed
Jasim Mulla al Marzooqi, who works for Abu Dhabi Food Authority, inspects items at a business in Musaffah yesterday.
ABU DHABI - MAR 18: Only 28 out of 135 food shops in the Musaffah industrial area – where thousands of labourers eat every day – met hygiene standards during a month-long inspection drive.
The Abu Dhabi Food Authority officers handed out 74 warnings and 29 fines. The inspectors confiscated and destroyed 346kg of food that was declared unfit for consumption.
The campaign followed complaints about the safety of Musaffah’s food establishments. Officials fear that, with so many workers eating from so few sources, there is a danger of mass food poisoning should something go wrong in the preparation of the food.
Last August, 11 labourers ended up in hospital with food poisoning after overstretched caterers skimped on hygiene.
The authority plans to continue its inspections until Musaffah’s food outlets meet hygiene standards.
Abdul Hakeem al Jabri, the director of field operations, who headed an inspection unit yesterday, said: “We wanted to gain a clear understanding of the general patterns of food safety violations across the outlets so we come up with appropriate measures to fix them.
“We also try to spread awareness among the workers at the outlets about hygienic norms that they have to adhere to, as well as the health specifications like levels of heat and cold, storing and packing.”
A typical eating place is Adnan Adel’s Food Zone Restaurant. Up to 700 workers eat at his restaurant on weekdays. At weekends, he serves as many as 1,000 customers.
As the inspectors disclosed their results, Mr Adel said: “What do you expect from a labour camp? You cannot expect it to be 100 per cent hygienic.”
The labourers have few options. Some receive the catered meals as part of their pay package, but others eat at the cheapest restaurants they can find, or in unlicensed kitchens.
They often eat in cramped rooms where the staff wear headcovers, but flies patrol the hallways and empty cigarette packets are discarded in corners.
Many more eat in kitchens that serve up to 10,000 meals a day.
“You can’t trust [the restaurants] as much as you trust the work of your own hands. It’s a question of confidence,” said Ayman Ahmed, 30, a security guard in a labour camp.
Mr Ahmed was having lunch with three co-workers, eating food cooked in an unlicensed kitchen, over which the authority has little influence.
Because the kitchen is unlicensed, it is treated as a regular home. The security guards know they are taking a chance. “In terms of cleanliness, I can’t guarantee it. The restaurants make food for large numbers,” said Islam Saleh, 25, another guard.
Mr Saleh said he had witnessed poor hygiene in restaurants, such as bloodied chickens and undercooked rice. Restaurants often used oil several times to save money, the workers said.
Abilash Kolakkle, 30, a taxi driver from India, said restaurants were frequently smelly and paid less attention to hygiene the more customers they had.
“When they start, you get very nice food. But when they have many customers, they are very bad,” he said.
The situation is slowly improving as the Government focuses on the labour camps and pushes to have 60 per cent of food industry personnel trained in hygiene by the end of the year.
But for the restaurants, high rent and utility costs are placing pressure on food prices in an area where customers can earn as little as Dh500 (US$130) a month.
“The rent is high, the gas is high, there are so many things,” said Mr Adel, who pays Dh105,000 a year in rent for his small restaurant.
“Restaurant people think if they buy cheap quality, they can prepare cheap and they can have some profit.”
A centralised system providing gas to power the kitchens cost Dh20,000 to install and Dh10,000 per month to operate, said Mr Adel. Gas cylinders are one-tenth the cost.
“What do you expect from a labour camp?” Mr Adel repeated. “You cannot keep your price high. If you want to maintain business you have to keep your profit margin very low.”
Although hygiene training could improve standards, it is too infrequent, and many restaurant staff fail courses because the only available examination languages are English, Arabic and Urdu.
Last month, the authority said more than 60 per cent of restaurant staff who took hygiene courses failed their exams. The main reason was poor language skills.
Lock up abusive husbands, experts urge lawmakers
ABU DHABI - MAR 18: Abusive husbands should be locked up or banned from their homes under a new law tackling domestic violence, experts said yesterday.
They also called for the law to prevent family members from dropping charges in cases of abuse.
The experts, from Jordan, were addressing managers of the new Comprehensive Protection Family Centre, who are drafting the legislation. The centre will provide a safe haven for victims of domestic abuse.
The law will include details on how counsellors should investigate abuse, including the filming of victims when they give statements.
Dr Mohammed Tarawneh, a judge and a trustee of a similar centre in Jordan, said: “Our biggest weak point was not having a special law for domestic abuse cases when we opened.”
His remarks came during a workshop for social officials on protection of domestic abuse victims.
Jordan opened its independent family protection centre in 2000. Laws on domestic abuse were later revised to include issues such as not allowing victims to drop charges against family members.
“It is very common for family members to pressure the victims to drop their charges,” Dr Tarawneh said. “Sadly, you find a father forcing his daughter to drop sexual harassment charges against her brother, although they’re both his children.”
Females were sometimes the victims of “legislative abuse”, Dr Tarawneh said. He pointed to an example in which a girl becomes pregnant when raped by a relative who is not a mahram, or forbidden from marriage.
“The girl is then forced to marry this man. He gets away with his crime by getting a gift in exchange, a wife on a very low price,” Dr Tarawneh said.
“He would insult her the whole time, reminding her how cheap she was to get pregnant out of wedlock and how he saved her and married her.”
In cases where the father, brother or uncle impregnate a woman, under the law she is not allowed to abort. The baby will be registered as a parentless child and placed in an orphanage.
Experts said the biggest problem was women who waited too long to report violence against them.
“Most of the women I have dealt with only came to us after a minimum of 32 attacks,” said Dr Israa Tawalbeh, a forensic pathologist from Jordan’s ministry of health.
One woman was choked, locked in a room and left for dead by her husband, Dr Tawalbeh said: “She was able to escape after five days, and it was very obvious that it was a murder attempt. However, the couple then made up and they went home as if nothing had happened.”