UAE | Education

A gruelling start to the school day

The drastic impact of traffic is vividly pictured in the lifestyle of Karim Mohammad, a seven-year-old who wakes up early in the morning to catch his bus at 4.40am.

  • By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:30 November 21, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Pupils living in Ajman and Sharjah who attend charity schools in Dubai suffer from lengthy journeys to school as traffic congestion worsens. There is increasing concern the children's health and academics are being badly affected.
  • Image Credit: Supplied picture

Dubai: The drastic impact of traffic is vividly pictured in the lifestyle of Karim Mohammad, a seven-year-old who wakes up early in the morning to catch his bus at 4.40am.

The dark sky is still looming around Mohammad as he waits for his bus while fighting back the urge to sleep, for he lives in Ajman with parents earning low incomes.

The boy is forced to go to Dubai due to the lack of charity schools in Ajman and Sharjah.

This is the case with many pupils residing in Sharjah and studying in Dubai as the traffic flow is impacting the social and academic lives of pupils, parents, and teachers. School buses are picking up pupils at least 15 and 30 minutes earlier than last year, just to meet the expected arrival time.

While many pupils are able to arrive on time, a number are missing out on the first period due to traffic and road conversions. This is the case with National Charity Schools - not only do they have students arriving, late but sometimes also teachers.

Nadia Ebrahim, 14, is picked up at 6.30am to be seated in a bus whose seats are already more than half occupied, saying the journey of an hour and a half to two hours to school is "extremely" exhausting using up any motivation and energy to start her day.

This new lifestyle is impacting the social lives of many pupils, as they are skipping meals with parents, which in many cases is hindering their social and academic progression.

In fact, studies has proven that breakfast is a key booster for school children and directly linked to their academic performance, said Dr Osama Alalla, researcher and nutritionist at the Ministry of Education (MOE), adding that over 70 per cent of UAE's school children skip this crucial meal of the day.

The rapid developments in the UAE are giving a new face to its health and social deficiencies, said Dr Alalla, adding that children are spending less time with their parents and are missing nutritious meals, which is creating health concerns.

A good breakfast

Dr Alalla recommends at least having a cup of milk and dates or honey and a banana before going to school, which only takes two minutes to eat.

The annual increase in congestion due to road construction and diversion has made the journey to and from school a hectic physical and psychological task for children, said Dr Mohammad Edris, Director-General of the National Charity Schools.

The school management will soon have two large buses to pick up teachers, as they are coming late to school in Dubai from Sharjah, said Dr Edris, adding that having all the teachers using the bus will cut down on traffic.

"Most of our students are picked up very early in the morning from Ajman and Sharjah. They spend most of the time sleeping, especially younger pupils since the traffic exhausts them," he said.

As for Arab Unity School, they recently denied claims of cutting off bus services for students living in congested areas, saying the circular they sent early last week was to open a communication channel in which parents could offering suggestions to the transportation delays, said Abdul Hussain Taher, Managing Director of the school.

"Parents are complaining for the late arrival of their children, which we can not do much about," Taher said. "More than 80 per cent of our 3,000 pupils use the bus transportation. All we are asking is for suggestions and help from parents."

The situation is impacting the lifestyles of pupils and teachers as they are spending up to three to four hours of their day in traffic, "besides the economic reality is forcing both parents to take up jobs missing crucial family hours spend with the children," said Neville Sherman, Principal of The Westminster School.

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