Dubai draws up strategy to tap talents of exceptional students

Dubai is drawing up a strategy to provide special support for about 7,000 talented students. The strategy aims to harness the talents of thousands of students and hone their skills for top positions in the economic and social sectors.

Spelling out the Dubai Talents Programme at a Ramadan gathering at his home, Maj. General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai Police Chief and founder of the new Emirates Association for Talent, called on the Ministry of Education and Youth and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to support the project.

He said the Dubai government was keen to get the Talent Programme moving and that General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defence, had pledged support and ordered the allocation of funds for its success. The police chief said that the association had asked schools and educational departments to furnish the names of promising students in order to establish its database.

"The following stage will discuss the activities and the programmes needed to develop the talents of these students and ensure their maximum contribution for the development of the country and society," he said.

He noted that the education system in its present form may not be capable of doing so. "We are moving towards a new economy and entering a new era of development in which intellectual resources become the most important figure in the process. Offering proper support to talented students is, in other words, maximising the wealth of the country and ensuring its prosperous future," he said.

Maj. General Dhahi said the association had received encouraging responses from several schools, indicating that the project would be a great success if suitable programmes were created. "If only one per cent of the talented students in Dubai succeed as a result of the programme, Dubai will have 700 talented people in the next ten years. They will be great assets for the development of Dubai and the UAE and the prosperity of the nation."

He urged the Ministry of Education and Youth to make greater effort to identify talented children and create special programmes for them. "Talented students are lost in the current education system, especially with no officer in schools or at the department level to deal with them. The result is that these students will continue in the mainstream of education which, by itself, does not meet the country's modern requirements," he said.

Dr Mohammed Murad Abdullah, head of the police Research and Studies Department and secretary of the Emirates Association for Talent, said the Japanese and American methods of handling talented students and guiding them in the right direction had been studied.

He said the association would establish a special centre which would conduct a variety of programmes for talented students. "The programmes will be conducted after school and during holidays. This will enable talented students to continue their conventional education while at the same time develop their talents at the centre.

"After finishing secondary education, talented students will be guided to adopt specialties that suit them. They might continue their studies in local universities or be sent abroad based on the availability of the specialty that caters to their talent.

"This will ensure that talented students will not go astray or lose their talents because of misplacement in academic studies," Murad said. The association will maintain a record of the development of talented students during and after their graduation, and will alert officials about their progress in studies.