Letters: June 12, 2013

Learn how to swim

Every morning, when I go for a swim at the Abu Dhabi Corniche, I see both children and adults in the water and most don’t know how to swim. Quite often, we hear about accidents where someone has drowned in a pool or in the ocean. I believe such tragedies can be avoided by teaching children to swim. I believe in today’s world, swimming is a must for all. When teaching children to swim, they must learn the breast stroke and water treading first. These are the basics and not as exhausting at least for the first half hour if one needs to swim in case of emergencies. If you don’t know how to swim, you must go out and start learning today. I believe this is the best life insurance you could give yourself. In my experience, if you take daily lessons you can learn swimming within two weeks and if you take weekly classes it can take up to six months.

From Ms Elena Braestrup

Abu Dhabi

Welfare of students

I think financial support should be given to deserving students who score high and get selected by universities based on their merit. We often witness good results in Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools, with students scoring as high as 95 per cent. But enormous effort is put in by the parents for the same. Parents of students who score high grades and are eligible for professional courses often struggle to get their children enrolled in those institutions.

I would request authorised persons from professional institutions to come forward and make the following provisions to spread awareness and help expatriates. Banks should be willing to give education loans that could be paid over six to eight years. Parents can start paying the loan regularly once the students are enrolled and the longer time period allows students to help repay the loan upon completion of their education.

Although many universities offer scholarships and discounts, many parents are unable to pay the balance amount. In such cases, there should be non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) willing to help parents for the welfare of students. Any individual willing to partially or fully fund students who have received admissions based on their merit should register with universities. The universities could then forward the same to underprivileged parents.

Universities should also advertise any schemes that might support students directly or indirectly. This would keep many intelligent students from opting out of courses that they are eligible for but cannot afford.

From Mr S. Thanasekar

Sharjah

Reduce the fee

I request the concerned authorities to consider lowering the fee charged for obtaining the Emirates ID as it is now aligned with visa renewal. To do the math, now it costs more than double to renew employee and family visas as individuals have to pay both the visa and the Emirates ID renewal fee. A three-year visa now costs almost Dh1,000, including fees for medical tests, typing, the visa and ID card. This is too hefty for a family with an average income. It is commonly believed that the online services would bring down the cost but the reality is the opposite.

From Mr Ismail Sageer

UAE

World Ocean Day

I would like to wish Gulf News and all its readers a Happy World Ocean Day that was celebrated on June 8. I am writing this letter to spread awareness about the importance and need for keeping our oceans healthy. Oceans are of utmost importance to our planet Earth and mankind as they hold 97 per cent of our planet’s water, valuable minerals and underwater species, some of which are a staple diet for people across the globe. Beyond this, oceans are a means for trade and transportation. Oceanic weed produces half of the oxygen needed. These amazing waster bodies also absorb nearly one-third of the carbon dioxide caused by humans. Oceans also regulate our weather and help form clouds that bring us our fresh water. No matter how close or far from the shore we live, oceans affect our daily life. In the current situation where pollution is increasing on daily basis, oceans need our help to stay healthy. I urge readers to take simple measures like reducing plastic consumption and making the right seafood choices, as this would help our oceans. On an industrial level, I urge avoiding pouring chemicals, pharmaceutical waste and oil into the ocean. Readers should take care of the beaches and not exploit marine life or purchase items that do so. Practice responsible boating, kayaking, and other recreational activities when at sea.

From Ms Arushi Madan

UAE

Era of social media

I came across the Speak Your Mind debate on underage social media users and wanted to share an incident that took place in class last week (‘Focus: Underage social media users,’ Gulf News, June 8). Being 13 years old, I am one of the few students in eighth grade who does not have a Facebook account. Recently, I overheard my friends having a conversation about who had the oldest ‘Facebook age’. One of them claimed that he lately turned 27 on facebook. I was surprised to know that they were using a fake date of birth just to have an account on a social networking website. That’s when I realised that the so-called ‘13-year-old’ age limit was pointless. The creators of Facebook have done their job by setting the limitations, but they have no way to check the actual age of their users. Taken aback by the entire concept, I decided to go out and ask ten other random children about the same.

Guess what? All ten of them also have Facebook accounts with a fake date of birth. These children have been on Facebook for over a year or two, meaning when they made an account they were only 10 or 11 years old. Additionally, in most cases, their parents were not aware of their accounts and those who were aware were not bothered. I believe the age limit is a must and students are exploiting it. There should be a way to stop them.

From Mr Ashith Farhan

Abu Dhabi

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