UAE to Legalise private tutoring to improve standards in schools

Teachers in government schools will be allowed to offer private tutoring for the first time in a new drive to improve standards.

Fawzia Gharib, assistant undersecretary for school operations at the Ministry of Education, told that the authority will licence teachers to offer one-on-one lessons.

Teachers will be able to register to take part and will be financially rewarded for doing so by the ministry. They will not provide tutoring for pupils at their own schools.

The scheme applies only to public schools and is not being offered in private schools.

The move represents a shift in policy. Private tuition is currently banned but many teachers offer to tutor for cash-in-hand despite that.

The decision was announced in a circular distributed by the ministry to schools.

Ms Gharib said tutoring should never be a "profit-making" exercise.

“There is a difference between profit-making private lessons and private lessons where the goal is to enrich pupils’ knowledge and enhance their academic skills,” said Ms Gharab.

“We don’t want parents to pay between Dh150 and Dh300 for one hour of private tutoring, we want to provide children with access to more learning that is adequate to their needs,” she said. She said that the UAE is determined to develop a top-class education system and is providing additional tuition to drive up standards without forcing parents to pay the cost.

Ms Gharib said that the scheme targets pupils who require more attention to certain topics.

“For example, if a pupil was weak in mathematics, they will receive private lessons to help improve their performance in math, not in all subjects, because he is only weak in this subject.”

Once the pupil has improved their performance, the private tutoring will stop, she said.

She said that only qualified teachers among those who register via the online “Teach for the UAE” platform, will be chosen to provide the service.

“We don’t aim to burden the teacher, nor the pupil with extra hours, therefore the lessons will be added to the teachers’ classes but during the school day.”

Budgets have been allocated to reward teachers who take part, while their participation will also be taken into consideration during performance evaluations.

“If their evaluations were exceeding expectations, those teachers will also have priority in promotions,” she said.

Ms Gharib said she expects parents to welcome the initiative.

“We don’t want education to turn into a trade,” she said.

Teachers are able to register to become licensed private tutors online, by visiting the Teach For UAE website.

Souq.com opens Dubai centre that will Create 600 Jobs

Souq.com, the e-commerce platform Amazon bought for $580 million (Dh2.13 billion) last year, has opened a centre in Dubai that will create 600 jobs as the company continues to expand its footprint and sales in the Middle East.

The 23,000 square metre facility is the company’s third UAE fulfilment centre, which enables sellers to have a Souq store and ship their products to different customers, the company said in a statement.

“The increased fulfilment capacity also benefits our sellers, who comprise of thousands of small- and medium-sized businesses, by enabling them to scale up their businesses on our marketplace,” said Ronaldo Mouchawar, chief executive of Souq.

Souq is benefiting from the rise in online shopping in the UAE and the region as a whole. The Emirates is the fourth most prepared developing economy for e-commerce, according to a new index from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).

The e-commerce sector in the Middle East is growing at the fastest pace globally with online sales expected to double to $48.8bn by 2021, said a report by Fitch Solutions, a unit of Fitch Group. The UAE is set to be one of the world leaders, with e-commerce spending in the country increasing 170 per cent to $27.1bn in 2022, from $9.7bn in 2017.

“The new Dubai fulfilment centre, along with the existing FCs, will enable Souq to handle the current and future demand in the UAE, where a growing number of customers choose Souq for their purchases,” said the company. “The new facility will also help Souq meet is objective of growing selection and improving convenience for its customers.”

Five-year student visas can re-energise jobs market in the UAE

A new five-year visa that will allow students to stay in the country to look for work after they graduate will re-energise the UAE's job market, university deans and students said.

Expat and international students will no longer be expected to leave soon after they receive their degree. Until now they have also been made to renew their visa every year of their degree.

Major changes to the way expats are employed, their legal residency status and the ability for foreign companies to be owned without a local partner were outlined on Sunday night.

“This is a long time coming and people have been interested in this for years. Many students are here as they want to work here," said Dr Warren Fox, head of higher education at Dubai's education regulator, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority.

“Formerly, a young man who graduated would be unable to stay in the country unless he had a job or went for higher studies. Now, the expatriates who are born and raised here would not need to stay here on their family’s visa or to look for a job."

The move will create new opportunities and develop human capital," he said.

"All of these are a step forward in the right direction. We are already a very popular international higher-education hub and visas are always an issue for students. This flexibility will strengthen our position."

Dr Fox anticipates "higher interest in applications" to the UAE's universities.

"There will be high interest in staying in Dubai after they graduate. These talented students who are new graduates and ready to go, can add to the economy,” believes Dr Fox.

The KHDA said that although the full details have not been disclosed, students can expect that if they enrol for a three-year course, they would still have a five-year visa.

“The students could stay and look for professional opportunities, they could be innovators or start new jobs or set up a start-up. Rather than a couple of months, they get extended time to look at these options.”

Dr Björn Kjerfve, Chancellor of American University of Sharjah, one of the country's best-known universities abroad, said the prospect of a five-year visa would not only attract international investors and qualified professionals but also help shape a better future for expatriate students in UAE.

"We join the students and their parents in highly appreciating the decision to extend visa renewal for students for five years," he said.

"The decision will have a great impact on the future of expatriate students and encourage them to stay in the country to seek employment here. This will reinforce the country’s interest in the strategic investment in knowledge and future generations.”

A student at the American University of Sharjah, Alejandra O’Connor, said getting a five-year visa will make things much easier.

“I will be able to have time to stay and find a job in the UAE,” said the 21-year-old public relations student from Bolivia.

Renewable energy sector Create 100,000 Jobs in the UAE

The UAE is moving towards potentially creating up to 100,000 jobs in the by 2030. That is according to Nawal Al Hosany, the UAE’s permanent representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency, which held its 15th council meeting in Abu Dhabi.

Ms Al Hosany said the 2030 figure was based on current estimates. But it was not just about boosting renewable energy but also creating opportunities for young people and other sectors as the UAE seeks to possibly have 30 percent of all power generation from clean sources by 2030.

“This is not new for the UAE. We started this in 2006 when we launched Masdar,” she told The National. “Having renewables and clean technology as a new sector … is very important and the key to our progress.”

Commenting on the growing awareness of the importance of recycling among the public and moves to remove plastic straws from restaurants, she said that addressing waste has always been a priority for the Government. But it is important to implement this in a gradual way to encourage people.

“It’s a more successful model. In 2006 we launched Masdar, we have invested in awareness and we have 'sustainability week' every year. We have launched lots of programmes in schools so the youth are very aware of recycling. And we have started to build infrastructure for recycling in different emirates to handle recycling.”

Her remarks came on the sidelines of the Irena meeting where it was revealed that jobs in the renewable energy industry worldwide soared by 500,000 last year to reach 10.3 million — a 5.3 percent increase on 2016.

 Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review — showed the number of jobs created had passed the 10m mark for the first time and leading the charge in China, Brazil, the US, India, Germany and Japan where 70 percent of the jobs have been created. Sixty percent of all renewable energy jobs are in Asia, the report revealed.

The solar industry accounted for most of the jobs at 3.4 million, with China alone estimated to account for two-thirds of these. China was followed by Japan, the US, India and Bangladesh.

China accounts for 44 percent of global wind employment, while half of the top ten countries with the largest installed capacity of wind power are European.

“Renewable energy has become a pillar of low-carbon economic growth for governments all over the world, a fact reflected by the growing number of jobs created in the sector,” said Adnan Amin, director general of Irena.

“This data also underscores an increasingly regionalised picture, highlighting that in countries where attractive policies exist, the economic, social and environmental benefits of renewable energy are most evident,” he said. “This data supports our analysis that decarbonisation of the global energy system can grow the global economy and create up to 28 million jobs in the sector by 2050.”

Etihad re-launches Aviation Training Academy

Etihad Aviation Training, part of Etihad Aviation Group, has relaunched its aviation training organisation under a new name, as it seeks to tap into rising demand for industry training worldwide.

“The growth of the business will mirror the expansion of the global training market and we are excited about our expanding portfolio of programmes and products. These services are accessible to Etihad Airways and now, for the first time, to external customers,” said Tony Douglas, group chief executive of Etihad Aviation Group, which owns Abu Dhabi’s flag carrier Etihad Airways.

Etihad Aviation Training was previously known as Etihad Flight College. It offers a range of training products and services, including airline training, type rating, cabin crew safety training, instructor training and cadet programmes, as well as aircraft maintenance training, and is one of the largest training facilities in the Middle East.

The business currently has 10 full-flight simulators in operation, while two additional devices will arrive later this year, including the first Airbus A350-900 simulator and a third Boeing 787-9 simulator.

This will enable Etihad Aviation Training to take advantage of increasing global training demand, particularly from within the GCC, Europe, Indian sub-continent, Africa and Southeast Asia, Etihad said.

Dubai’s flag carrier Emirates has also enhanced its training operations lately. It opened the Emirates Flight Training Academy close to Al Maktoum International Airport during Dubai Air Show last November.

Etihad Aviation Training’s packages offer access to the Multi-Crew Pilot Licence (MPL) and Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) programmes delivered from the company’s Flight Training Organisation based in Al Ain.

“By expanding and redeveloping our facilities within the UAE, we are able to offer a one-stop solution to our customers – from individual pilots to global airlines, and I’m confident that we will grow to become a globally recognised aviation training centre,” said Captain Paolo La Cava, director of Etihad Aviation Training.

Etihad Aviation Group’s UAE National Cadet Pilot Training programme has to date trained 231 UAE nationals, 91 of whom are active flight crew in Etihad today, with further 200-plus cadets continuing through the programme during 2018-2022, the group said.