The future of learning: Pandemic gives rise to homeschooling in the UAE

When schools were shut in March, education transferred to online platforms. (AFP)
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Updated 18 July 2020
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The future of learning: Pandemic gives rise to homeschooling in the UAE

  • The crisis has sparked an interest in alternative ways to educate

DUBAI: Students in the UAE are preparing to return to schools in September after a six-month shutdown because of COVID-19.

But for many parents, the unprecedented period has sparked an interest in alternative ways to educate their children while keeping them safe from the virus.

One alternative is homeschooling — a form of education where children are taught at home, usually by parents, without following the rigid structure of traditional schooling methods.

Michaela Cooper, founder of Dubai and Northern Emirates Homeschooling Association (Duneha), said there is an increase in the number of parents interested in homeschooling. She said it is likely linked to the pandemic.

“We’ve had a major increase in individuals interested in homeschooling. I think that it is directly related to the pandemic,” she told Arab News. “We have thousands, literally hundreds per week joining the Facebook page. The majority of them said they have withdrawn their children from school and that they will be homeschooling them.”

When schools were shut in March, education transferred to online platforms. Institutions scrambled to create virtual classrooms and keep the academic year on track.

But Cooper, who has been homeschooling her children for a combined 28 years, said distance learning has not been effective for many parents, pushing them to rethink the way they want their kids to receive their education.

“I’ve spoken to hundreds of parents who have said they’ve seen how distance learning looks,” she said.

Although financial issues were given as a reason by interested parents, Cooper said it is not always the cause.

“I’ve met a lot who could easily afford private schools but have removed their children from them simply because they feel like they would rather take homeschooling on,” she said.

“Everyone has their own specific reasons, but a good number of them have been financial or the fact that they weren’t necessarily pleased with what they saw with online learning,” she added.

Cooper was excited at the spike in interest, as she talked about how homeschooling could offer better results for children.

“The biggest takeaway was the child-centered aspect. It wasn’t myself or any other adult insisting that this is the path you must take, these are subjects you have to take. You must do this or that,” she said.

“Give children the freedom to learn the things they want to learn and the subjects that they find interesting, and to take the path that will ultimately be their own,” Cooper, known in the community as Aminah, said.

Ramesh Mudgal, a Dubai-based school principal, admitted it was a “learning curve” for both parents and students, who suddenly had to adapt to a new environment because of the pandemic.

“There were parents and students who were not very comfortable with the usage of live webinars, for example Zoom, and the technical aspect of it. There was a little bit of a challenge, but everyone has understood it’s an unprecedented situation. They all have to adapt to this,” Mudgal, who heads the Dubai branch of Global Indian International School, told Arab News.

Mudgal acknowledged the impact of the pandemic on education and stressed the importance of continuity.

“It has impacted everything. It has impacted how lessons are delivered. It has impacted how the teachers had to adopt everything and find out newer ways of engaging the students, ensuring there is collaboration,” he said.

When asked whether he thought homeschooling could become the norm after the pandemic, Mudgal said it was unlikely.

“In my opinion, and based on what I have read from international journals and education networks, and everywhere else, I do not see any significant increase in the number of parents opting for homeschooling,” he said.

Mudgal said homeschooling could be challenging for some parents because “it requires a whole lot of preparation — that means the amount of time and the amount of effort which parents have to put into homeschooling a child.”

But many parents do not see it as a challenge, including Cooper and long-time homeschooling father Jazeer Jamal, who has noticed an increase in the number of parents asking him about it.

“I have had several parents contact me just to look into homeschooling or to know more about how we have been managing to teach at home for all these years,” he said.

Jamal said the homeschooling community in the UAE is growing “in the number of organizations, chat groups, events and so on,” amid the pandemic.

The 37-year-old Sharjah-based entrepreneur homeschooled his three children from the age of three, and has been active in promoting homeschooling in the country, where he said there is recognition from the government.

Responding to criticism about the social aspect of home education, both Jamal and Cooper said it was the biggest myth about homeschooling, with the pandemic demonstrating how social interaction could still be done without the physical presence of a traditional school.

“The difference between the socialization of commercial schooling and homeschooling is choice. Being parents, we play a big role in creating a safe social environment for our children and providing the required emotional support to interact with their peers,” Jamal said.

The pandemic has opened up important discussions about education, not just in the UAE, but globally. It is up to parents to decide how their children should be educated, whether from the comfort of home or traditional classrooms.
 


Lebanon PM to visit new Damascus ruler on Saturday

Updated 52 min 56 sec ago
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Lebanon PM to visit new Damascus ruler on Saturday

  • Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati will on Saturday make his first official trip to neighboring Syria since the fall of president Bashar Assad, his office told AFP

BERUIT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati will on Saturday make his first official trip to neighboring Syria since the fall of president Bashar Assad, his office told AFP.
Mikati’s office said Friday the trip came at the invitation of the country’s new de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa during a phone call last week.
Syria imposed new restrictions on the entry of Lebanese citizens last week, two security sources have told AFP, following what the Lebanese army said was a border skirmish with unnamed armed Syrians.
Lebanese nationals had previously been allowed into Syria without a visa, using just their passport or ID card.
Lebanon’s eastern border is porous and known for smuggling.
Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah supported Assad with fighters during Syria’s civil war.
But the Iran-backed movement has been weakened after a war with Israel killed its long-time leader and Islamist-led rebels seized Damascus last month.
Lebanese lawmakers elected the country’s army chief Joseph Aoun as president on Thursday, ending a vacancy of more than two years that critics blamed on Hezbollah.
For three decades under the Assad clan, Syria was the dominant power in Lebanon after intervening in its 1975-1990 civil war.
Syria eventually withdrew its troops in 2005 under international pressure after the assassination of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafic Hariri.


UN says 3 million Sudan children facing acute malnutrition

Updated 10 January 2025
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UN says 3 million Sudan children facing acute malnutrition

  • Famine has already gripped five areas across Sudan, according to a report last month
  • Sudan has endured 20 months of war between the army and the paramilitary forces

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: An estimated 3.2 million children under the age of five are expected to face acute malnutrition this year in war-torn Sudan, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
“Of this number, around 772,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition,” Eva Hinds, UNICEF Sudan’s Head of Advocacy and Communication, told AFP late on Thursday.
Famine has already gripped five areas across Sudan, according to a report last month by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed assessment.
Sudan has endured 20 months of war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killing tens of thousands and, according to the United Nations, uprooting 12 million in the world’s largest displacement crisis.
Confirming to AFP that 3.2 million children are currently expected to face acute malnutrition, Hinds said “the number of severely malnourished children increased from an estimated 730,000 in 2024 to over 770,000 in 2025.”
The IPC expects famine to expand to five more parts of Sudan’s western Darfur region by May — a vast area that has seen some of the conflict’s worst violence. A further 17 areas in western and central Sudan are also at risk of famine, it said.
“Without immediate, unhindered humanitarian access facilitating a significant scale-up of a multisectoral response, malnutrition is likely to increase in these areas,” Hinds warned.
Sudan’s army-aligned government strongly rejected the IPC findings, while aid agencies complain that access is blocked by bureaucratic hurdles and ongoing violence.
In October, experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council accused both sides of using “starvation tactics.”
On Tuesday the United States determined that the RSF had “committed genocide” and imposed sanctions on the paramilitary group’s leader.
Across the country, more than 24.6 million people — around half the population — face “high levels of acute food insecurity,” according to IPC, which said: “Only a ceasefire can reduce the risk of famine spreading further.”


Turkiye says France must take back its militants from Syria

Updated 10 January 2025
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Turkiye says France must take back its militants from Syria

  • Ankara is threatening military action against Kurdish fighters in the northeast
  • Turkiye considers the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as linked to its domestic nemesis

ISTANBUL: France must take back its militant nationals from Syria, Turkiye’s top diplomat said Friday, insisting Washington was its only interlocutor for developments in the northeast where Ankara is threatening military action against Kurdish fighters.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan insisted Turkiye’s only aim was to ensure “stability” in Syria after the toppling of strongman Bashar Assad.
In its sights are the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which have been working with the United States for the past decade to fight Daesh group militants.
Turkiye considers the group as linked to its domestic nemesis, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkiye and is considered a terror organization by both Turkiye and the US.
The US is currently leading talks to head off a Turkish offensive in the area.
“The US is our only counterpart... Frankly we don’t take into account countries that try to advance their own interests in Syria by hiding behind US power,” he said.
His remarks were widely understood to be a reference to France, which is part of an international coalition to prevent a militant resurgence in the area.
Asked about the possibility of a French-US troop deployment in northeast Syria, he said France’s main concern should be to take back its nationals who have been jailed there in connection with militant activity.
“If France had anything to do, it should take its own citizens, bring them to its own prisons and judge them,” he said.


Lebanese caretaker PM says country to begin disarming south Litani to ensure state presence

Updated 10 January 2025
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Lebanese caretaker PM says country to begin disarming south Litani to ensure state presence

  • Najib Mikati: ‘We are in a new phase – in this new phase, we will start with south Lebanon and south Litani’

DUBAI: Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Friday that the state will begin disarming southern Lebanon, particularly the south Litani region, to establish its presence across the country.
“We are in a new phase – in this new phase, we will start with south Lebanon and south Litani specifically in order to pull weapons so that the state can be present across Lebanese territory,” Mikati said.


Tanker hit by Yemen militia that threatened Red Sea spill has been salvaged

Updated 10 January 2025
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Tanker hit by Yemen militia that threatened Red Sea spill has been salvaged

  • The Sounion had been a disaster in waiting in the waterway, with 1 million barrels of crude oil aboard
  • The Houthis have targeted some 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started

DUBAI: An oil tanker that burned for weeks in the Red Sea and threatened a massive oil spill has been “successfully” salvaged, a security firm said Friday.
The Sounion had been a disaster in waiting in the waterway, with 1 million barrels of crude oil aboard that had been struck and later sabotaged with explosives by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militia. It took months for salvagers to tow the vessel away, extinguish the fires and offload the remaining crude oil.
The Houthis initially attacked the Greek-flagged Sounion tanker on Aug. 21 with small arms fire, projectiles and a drone boat. A French destroyer operating as part of Operation Aspides rescued its crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, after they abandoned the vessel and took them to nearby Djibouti.
The Houthis later released footage showing they planted explosives on board the Sounion and ignited them in a propaganda video, something the militia have done before in their campaign.
The Houthis have targeted some 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.
The Houthis maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.