Abu Dhabi: With 40,000 unemployed UAE nationals, there is an urgent need to increase the Emirati presence within the UAE labour market, especially in the education sector, delegates said during an international conference held on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.

“Nearly 8 million foreigners are currently in the UAE; authorities should plan to make Emiratis the majority in the country especially when it comes to the development of the educational process and the preservation of national identity,” Mouza Obaid Gobash, secretary general of the Shamsa Bint Suhail Award for Creative Women, said addressing the first International Khalifa Award Education Conference.

The two-day conference reviewed the educational experience in the UAE and discussed ways of enhancing communication and interaction between institutions and families to improve the educational experience.

“Due to [increasing] workloads, Emirati families are spending now much less time with their children. They leave their children to be raised by nannies and housemaids. Parents should look after their children to instil human virtues and moral values. The importance of character building seems to have been forgotten nowadays,” Mouza said.

According to a recent report released by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), nearly 94 per cent of 23,851 Emirati families surveyed in Dubai had hired nannies or housemaids to help in bringing up their children.

The two-day conference saw many parents as well as teachers drawing attention to the negative impact of technology on children at home and school.

Hana Abbas, a math teacher in a government school in Umm Al Quwain, told Gulf News that the conference had been helpful in monitoring the negative impact of technology and how it was changing the way children think and focus but said said such forums also needed to come up with solutions.

“I am a mother of three children and they rely on technology, especially social media, for the majority of their time. We don’t communicate well at home. I have tried to create an account on different social media websites to be able to monitor them; however, I don’t have much time for that,” Hana said.

“In school, I encourage pupils to use pen and paper most of the time to encourage their creativity and imagination rather than relying on technology and computers, which can encourage obesity, violent behaviour and depression,” she added.

The conference also saw calls for improving the standard of teaching in schools. The issue of salaries paid to teachers across UAE schools also came up for discussion.

“Teachers should be paid and trained well because teaching is one of the most noble professions in the world. Teachers are educators and motivators for future generations and their efforts should be recognised,” Mouza said.

The need to follow up on exceptional and high-achieving students and share their success stories to encourage more youngsters was also highlighted.

“We always search for distinguished students across the UAE. We don’t only look for outstanding students, but also productive workers and innovative community members, whose efforts should be recognised,” said Hessa Mohammad Al Za’abi, executive director of strategy and development of the Hamdan Award for distinguished learning peroformance.”

The conference was held under the directives of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of the board of trustees of the Khalifa Award of Education. The event saw over 1,200 delegates in attendance.

The opening ceremony of the conference was attended by Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development and Vice-Chairman of the board of trustees of the Khalifa Award for Education besides a number of senior officials from the education sector and a number of members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the country.