Absenteeism high after Eid holiday

Going back to school after a long break for a mere two days before the weekend arrived, appears to have been voted down by most pupils. Absenteeism was high in educational institutions the day after the Eid Al Adha holiday ended.

Private and public schools in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah witnessed a high rate of absenteeism.

Officials from the Ministry of Education and Youth said that student absenteeism between two sets of holidays has become a phenomenon in the past two years.

"Students used to agree among themselves not to come to school before or after long holidays to enjoy a longer holiday. This has been happening systematically after or before eid holidays," said an official from Dubai Education Department.

According to Abdelnoor Ahmed, Director of the ministry's Media and Foreign Relations Department, absenteeism has become widespread after Eid holidays.

He said although the undersecretary had sent out an official notification warning against staying absent from classes between the holidays, there were still many who failed to turn up.

He believed that the parents and school administration were to blame. "Parents should cooperate with the school administration to overcome this and encourage their children not to miss classes.

On the other hand, the school administration should ask the teachers to take classes and continue with the curriculum even if there are only a few students attending," said Abdelnoor.

The school curriculum is programmed and planned for specific days, he said, and neither the school nor the ministry can postpone this schedule even if students keep missing classes.

"If students miss classes it will result in their study time being shortened and this could lead to failure," he explained.

He said the ministry will monitor the situation at this time in order to assess the situation and evaluate damages on the performance of schools.

He warned that the ministry was evaluating the phenomenon and would take penal action against those who might found manipulating absenteeism among members of management of schools or teachers.

Sultan Mohammed, a 12-year-old grade seven pupil, missed school yesterday.

He said: "My friends and I decided to skip school on Tuesday and Wednesday, because it is unfair to go to school for two days only and we have the weekend coming. Besides, if we go to school for just these two days we are not likely to be learning much."

Students, in general, are of the opinion that if the whole class decided not to go to school, the teacher would be forced to postpone the lesson. And, since they are starting in the middle of the week, in all probability the teacher will not be taking serious lessons.

Ahmed Mallat, a teacher in a private school, was surprised to find students missing from classes from last Wednesday, even before the Eid holiday began. He estimated that around 70 per cent of the students were absent before and after Eid.

"I could not teach a mere handful of students, because I know that I will have to re-explain the lesson again. Therefore, I only did a revision for those students that attended. I believe the ministry should punish the absent students – by awarding them a poorer conduct grade which will maybe make them punctual the next time," he said.

The mother of a grade one student accepted the fact that her daughter should not go to school directly after Eid.

"My daughter went to sleep late on Monday night, because it was a holiday, so I couldn't force her to wake up and go to school in the morning. But I drove her to school a few hours later, and she called me again asking me to pick her up because the teachers were not taking any lessons," she said.

Some universities, however, found a way around the situation.

L.A., a student at the American University in Sharjah, said they had been given a whole week's holiday, with Tuesday and Wednesday, but they were going to make up those classes on future Thursdays.

At Dubai University College, morning classes were cancelled because there wasn't any attendance. However, the night classes were normal and everyone attended.