UAE | Education

Schroeder visits German school in Abu Dhabi

An eight-year-old Emirati boy with no German language background, surprised his friends by attaining a double promotion in the German International School in Abu Dhabi.

  • By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:33 December 15, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Dr. Gerhard Schroeder, former German Chancellor and Co-Honorary Chairman of the Emirati German Friendship Society, on Monday interacts with children during his tour to the German International School in Abu Dhabi along with other officials.
  • Image Credit: Ravindranath/Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: An eight-year-old Emirati boy with no German language background, surprised his friends by attaining a double promotion in the German International School in Abu Dhabi.

"Ahmad Al Hosni, a Grade three pupil got the double promotion to elementary school from kindergarten where he studied for one year only instead of two or three years", Gerald Miebs, Head of the school told Gulf News on Monday. "He picked up the language so fast, although his parents also do not know German unlike most of his non German peers in the school".

"Although it was bit tough in the beginning and even my parents could not help, I started to like several German words which made the learning easy", the boy said.

The school spoke to Gulf News on the sidelines of a visit by Dr Gerhard Schroeder, former German Chancellor and Co-Honorary Chairman of the Emirati German Friendship Society (EGFS) to the school. He visited class rooms and interacted with the children, bursting into laughter when the kids sang a German winter song saying 'it is too cold here'. "It is not that much cold now in the UAE", said some of the guests.

Donation

Schroeder handed over a cheque for Euros 15,000 (Dh74,444) from EGFS to the Kindergarten for purchasing sports equipment and furniture. He was accompanied by Mohammad Salem Al Daheri, Director of the Abu Dhabi Educational Zone, Klaus Peter Brandes, German Ambassador, Jurgen Steltzer, former German Ambassador to the UAE, other officials and members of EGFS. Schroeder is visiting Abu Dhabi to attend the annual meeting of EGFS.

The EGFS was established in 2006 to deepen the existing ties and the establishing new contacts to promote cooperation in the fields of research, education, culture and economy between UAE and Germany. Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, and Schroeder hold the posts of Co-Honorary Chairmanship of EGFS.

Membership

EGFS has 40 members from both the countries, who meet once in a year in Germany or in the UAE, Jurgen Steltzer, former German Ambassador to the UAE and a member of the board of EGFS, told Gulf News.

He added that the group functions like a non governmental organisation on non profit basis. EGFS is sponsoring several academic and cultural projects.

"We are sponsoring a German language course in Higher Colleges of Technology. We support several art and cultural exhibitions also," said Steltzer.

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