UAE | General
Calls made for moral grounding when raising children in UAE
The Chief of Dubai Police has raised the issue of bringing up children in the UAE and questioned who is responsible for their development, as schools only focus on education and can neglect to instil solid morals with children.
- By Alia Al Theeb, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:02 September 14, 2008
- Image Credit: Gulf News archive
- The raising issue is absent from our schools, as nobody has met to prepare the subjects of moral raising, says Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim.
Dubai: The Chief of Dubai Police has raised the issue of bringing up children in the UAE and questioned who is responsible for their development, as schools only focus on education and can neglect to instil solid morals with children.
Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, who is also Chairman of the Juvenile Welfare Association, was speaking during a Ramadan Majlis held on Thursday.
The Majlis focused on a number of aspects related to raising children, including raising children under various threats and changes as well as upbringing based on a national strategy that helps achieve development.
During the majlis, Lieutenant General Dahi questioned who is responsible for children's development, pointing out that schools deal with formal education, but there is little attention being paid to how the children are being raised.
He said that school books only have educational materials, but that raising children with a good moral foundation is not addressed.
"The raising issue is absent from our schools, as nobody has met to prepare the subjects of moral raising," he said.
Lieutenant General Dahi called for a joint council to discuss the issue of raising children because it is a serious matter, as nowadays some youngsters can be seen imitating the West by dressing in ways that diverge from the UAE's culture and religion.
Teachers moving
"The low wages of teachers has prompted the best of them to find other jobs or migrate to other countries which is a loss for our schools," he said.
Sultan Saqr Al Suwaidi, Federal National Council (FNC) member and vice president of the Juvenile Welfare Association, said there is a high-scale media campaign to turn youngsters toward western styles and away from their own culture and tradition. Therefore, governments must guide the media regarding this issue.
Many personalities present at the majlis agreed on the importance of a solid upbringing for youngsters which comes from various factors such as a good family atmosphere, schools and the society.
Ali Humaid, from the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Work Department, said parents must not leave parental responsibility to housemaids, as youngsters must be exposed to their parents' good example.
Khamis Abdullah from the Ajman Educational Zone, said a survey he conducted among preparatory students revealed that 25 per cent of them watched TV for long periods, 35 per cent watched TV after midnight, 44 per cent watched a programme for the appearance of a female presenter and 76 per cent challenged the idea of encoding channels.
Khalifa Al Mehrazi, a family counsellor at Dubai Courts, drew on the issue of an emotional gap between a child and his/her family. This was revealed in an experiment where children were asked to rank five words starting with whom they would prefer to sit. The words were football, playstation, father, school and friends.
"Playstation came first in the list while father came last," he said.
Communication
He said statistics revealed that 94 per cent of divorces occur during the first four years of marriage, which affects the raising of children, and in most cases children lose the language of communicating with their parents.
Participants at the majlis also agreed on the importance of establishing an association to coordinate with various society organisations regarding raising children and family counselling, police and other concerned authorities to carry out studies and research related to juveniles and education.
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