The Federal National Council (FNC) has made impressive feats over the past four years in terms of developing the standards of this country. From human rights issues and investigating the rise of domestic violence to pensions and attempting to resolve the challenges faced by fishermen and farmers, the FNC serves as the platform for the unheard voices of citizens and expatriates. This is a sign of a society that is trying to develop a healthy system of communication and national empowerment. This is the natural order of things since we are aiming to reach and progress further by putting the UAE on the map. However, it appears that an important portion of the UAE’s population has been forgotten or at least dismissed, despite their pleas for help that is the children in the public school system.

On February 17, an article titled “Physical Education programmes to be reinstated from next academic year” was published in the nation section of Gulf News and cited that the FNC has advocated the decision to reintroduce a sports degree in government universities and have proposed the next steps towards implementing it. Although the positive outcomes of reinstating this degree are many, isn’t it time to tackle the issues of public school curriculums as well?

The FNC has not brought up the subject of the decline of the state of public primary and secondary education since Dr Amal Al Qubaisi’s appeal to resolve problems related to the two-track curriculum, and the decision was made to merge them.

According to a Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) report, as many as 20 percent of Emirati males drop out of secondary school. Personal matters and social responsibility aside, students are not being intellectually stimulated enough or encouraged to engage academically. This is dangerous as it can instil a sense of indifference towards the idea of learning and attaining knowledge itself, which results in pushing it aside as something secondary or only necessary to pass a grade or class.

Those children are the basis of our society. They need utmost care and attention since we have expectations for them to not only maintain the success that the UAE has achieved, but to also take it much further and beyond.

— The reader is an Emirati journalism student based in Sharjah.