Abu Dhabi: Teachers must protect children’s minds from extremist thought and possess a ‘generous personality’ capable of being a role model, a top education official in the capital said today (Sunday).
In fact, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) revealed that it is in the process of collaborating with strategic partners in creating uniform academic programmes to be taught across Abu Dhabi schools.
“We are looking to make a unified Islamic, Arabic and Social Studies curriculum and we are working with the Ministry of Interior and other authorities to make that happen. Instilling a sense of loyalty in Emirati students towards their country is an imperative issue for educators to focus on. We don’t want to see our children being kidnapped from us because they’ve fallen victim to harm,” said Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, director- general of the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec).
Dr Amal was speaking on the sidelines of an orientation ceremony where 410 new Emirati instructors joined the existing academic taskforce. Currently, UAE nationals make up 52 per cent of teachers across public schools in the capital, bringing that number up to over 7,000.
“Around 90 per cent of cycle one (grade one to five) teachers are female. It is difficult to get male school teachers across the world, and especially in the Middle East, simply because they have different opportunities to focus on and women tend to lean towards the field of education,” Dr Amal added.
This year, around 3,000 candidates applied for a position at Adec’s schools and only 410 of these were accepted into new roles.
“This is because they need to not only have a certain educational standard that we are looking for, but a kind of generous personality that we seek and identify during interviews. We want people who can become role models to students. In general school teachers make a more profound impression on their students than say university professors do,” she noted.
This year, the Adec has opened 10 new schools with a total capacity of 14,930 students across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. These facilities are part of the Future Schools Project which aims to see 100 new schools by 2020.
“We see this big enrolment of teachers as a positive sign and we will not stop being ambitious to achieve even more. We are proud of all our male and female educators everywhere,” the official added.
