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Over Half a Million UAE Students Could Compete to Qualify for International History Olympiad 2015

The International History Bee and Bowl (IHBB) kicks off in UAE on 26 April as part of International Competition
Dubai, UAE, 9 March 2014 – Following Japan, China, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, England, France and others, The International History Bee and Bowl (IHBB) has added the UAE to the tour that covers Asia, Europe, and the USA.
Top students and teams from UAE schools will have an opportunity to participate in the regional leg of the IHBB that is being organized by Carian College Advisors, which aim to attract the most talented students from across the country to the competition.
“We are targeting over half a million students from private and public schools in the UAE to compete in this competition”, said Peter Davos, IHBB Director of Outreach – Middle East, and Managing Director, Carian College Advisors. “UAE students who excel in the competition will stand a chance to qualify for the Asian Championships this Spring and the inaugural International History Olympiad to be held in the summer of 2015.”
The competition owes its origins to David Madden, founder and Executive Director of the National and International History Bees and Bowls. With 19 consecutive wins on the US television quiz show ‘Jeopardy’, David holds the title as the second longest-winning contestant in the show’s history. With winnings in excess of USD 400,000, David went on to create the highly successful organizations, which last year held over 170 competitions in the US alone. 
The competition hopes to attract participants from more than 30 schools in the UAE, to be added to the thousands of participants from countries such as South Korea, China, Thailand, and Malaysia, with future stops planned in Singapore, Sri Lanka, England, Germany, Switzerland and France. Guests of honor and lead judges for the April 26 event will include Radio Jockey Malavika Vardhan of City 1016, host of Dubai’s top listened to breakfast show, and Omar Nour, champion triathlete and Olympic hopeful, who recently placed second in the Yas triathlon this past weekend.
”IHBB and Carian College Advisors are thrilled to be launching our history quiz tournaments in the UAE, and we look forward to giving students a new opportunity to get excited about studying history. Students around the world have enjoyed competing in the International History Bee and Bowl, and we know that students in the U.A.E. will also have a great time putting their history skills to use in a fast-paced buzzer quiz competition.”
According to statistics from Abu Dhabi Education Council and Knowledge & Human Development Authority in Dubai, there are 200,000 students in Abu Dhabi private schools and 225,000 in Dubai private schools, in addition to students in public schools of both emirates. All public and private schools across the UAE can enter with teams in three separate age divisions. The top half of students and teams will also qualify for the inaugural Asian Championships at the end of the school year.
The international competition, which will hold approximately 12-15 regional tournaments throughout Asia, is seeking to use the upcoming April tournament in Dubai as its showcase competition in the Middle East this year, supported by strong enrollments from across the country. The competitions will take place on Apr 26 over the course of a full day at GEMS Winchester School in Jebel Ali.
Peter Davos, who studied History at Oxford and also hold degrees from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and the London School of Economics, commented: “We have selected the UAE as the launch pad because of the tremendous response from its student community and we expect a winning team from the UAE to finish very strongly at both the Asian and global finals.”
“This competition will allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their in-depth understanding of global history, from antiquity to the present day. UAE students are well versed in history, due to the breadth and diversity of local school curricula and their multicultural background. This will also challenge participants to interact with bright history students from other educational institutions from across the country, to see who is truly the best.”
IHBB currently consist of three divisions – Asia, Europe, and USA, with Australia, New Zealand, and South African divisions planned to debut in Summer of 2014 as well. IHBB is looking forward to 12-15 qualifying tournaments in Asia and 6-8 tournaments in Europe this year.  The 2014 European Championships will then be held in Rome, and the inaugural Asian Championships in Hong Kong at the end of the school year. Students who do well in the competition in Dubai in April will qualify to compete in the Asian Championships. In the USA, the competition is growing too – with over 200 competitions to be held nationally next year.
Davos added: “We will expand to other countries across the Arab world and Indian subcontinent in the future. Each division has its own qualifying tournaments and a separate championship at the end of the school year.”
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Ministry of Education Wins ‘Best m-Government Service’ Award

UAE, February 12, 2014 – The UAE Ministry of Education (MoE) has won the ‘Best m-Government Service’ Award in recognition of its innovative mobile application, Abnaai, which serves parents and their children who are studying in UAE-based government schools. Launched by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the award was given at the concluding session of the second annual UAE Government Summit.
The recognition aims to encourage government entities to provide creative and innovative solutions via smart phone applications and mobile phones for round-the-clock access by the public. The solutions must be easy to use and understand and properly working to surpass the public’s needs and expectations.
H.E. Humaid Mohammed Obeid Al Qutami, Minister of Education, highlighted the Ministry’s efforts to meet the Mobile Government project of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed. The endeavor aims to deliver government services to the public through mobile phones.
H.E. Al Qatami said that the award recognizes the efforts made by the Ministry and its employees. He further urged the Ministry to continue to provide world-class m-services and improve the quality of educational and learning services offered to all users.
In line with the award, H.E. Al Qatami responded that the continuous efforts to develop the country into a unique and smart government prompted the Ministry to be part of the UAE’s development initiatives, under the wise leadership of H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan, President of UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and the Ruler of Dubai, and members of the Supreme Council of the UAE.
H.E. Al Qatami said that the Ministry has made successful investments for its experienced and qualified employees to complete important tasks, especially those connected to the development of the education sector. He explained that the latter includes the educational system and its major elements along with specialized services offered by the Ministry to its clients.
H.E. Marwan Al Sawalih, the Ministry Undersecretary, said: “The Ministry of Education is keen on developing a fully integrated and comprehensive system based on modern compatible technologies present in today’s smart phone applications. Key features such as speed, accuracy and quality in serving clients – which include parents and students – are of particular focus. The content and public delivery of the Abnaai application depends on technological advancements in the fields of mass communication and smart devices. It is highly accurate and easy to use.”
The Ministry of Education’s investments into the digital world and smart devices developments will continue. The Ministry will push on with its roadmap to quality transformation with the aim of achieving the objectives of its development strategy along with the UAE Vision 2021.
About the application (Abnaai):
  • Functional on all mobile devices and smart tablets.
  • Parents are registered in the system to ensure data privacy.
  • Parents can enroll their children using the application without the need to be go to the school.
  • Parents can get information and monitor their children using a single account even if the students are in different schools.
  • Easy to log in via individual username and password
  • First-of- its-kind educational application in the region.
  • First application in the region using tracking systems to monitor school buses.
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Palm Utilities & Students ‘Lend Hands’ in Support of UAE’s World Expo 2020 Bid

UAE, October 12, 2013 – Palm Utilities (PU), a Dubai World company, has announced that it has invited 2,020 students from across the UAE to participate in a unique initiative to support the UAE’s World Expo 2020 bid.  Imprints of the student’s hands will be collectively displayed on a giant banner depicting the Dubai Expo 2020 logo.

Marwan Al Naqi, CEO of Palm Utilities, said: “This initiative reflects the heightened awareness among all members of society about UAE’s World Expo 2020 bid. It also highlights the huge public interest in supporting our bid to host the premier event. All sectors of society must literally join hands to bring the expo to the UAE, especially as the country is a leading advocate of intercultural communication and camaraderie and humanitarian bonds among the peoples of the world.”
“Under the wise guidance of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Dubai has become an important international trade hub with state-of-the art infrastructure, a world-class business environment, and home to a rich cultural heritage and a social fabric characterized by solidarity and harmony among all. All these factors make Dubai the perfect host of World Expo 2020, breathing life into the event’s slogan of ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’,” Al Naqi added.
“If Dubai’s expo bid is successful it will culminate the vision of our wise leadership to build cultural, intellectual, and scientific bridges with other nations in order to forge a better future for all. Rest assured, hosting the World Expo 2020  will give us a premier platform for promoting creativity and innovation in a bid to advance the process of economic, cultural and social transformation globally, as well as facilitate access to innovative solutions, leverage growth opportunities, and address current and future challenges,” said Al Naqi.
Mrs. Hamdah Yousif Lootah, Chairperson of the Dubai Modern Education School Board of Directors, said: “The Dubai Modern Education School thanks Palm Utilities for joining hands with us to support the UAE’s World Expo 2020 bid by launching an initiative where school students drew the Dubai Expo 2020 logo. As a main backer of UAE’s World Expo 2020 bid, the Dubai Modern Education School has put the Dubai Expo 2020 logo on display at its buildings and has organized many events and activities to support the bid and building more awareness about the event amongst the students in a daily manner.”
“We made sure school students were part of efforts to support UAE’s World Expo 2020 bid. This reflects our faith in the ability of the future generation to build the nation. There is no doubt whatsoever that World Expo 2020 will open up massive opportunities for the region and will bring it closer to other nations and regions. Furthermore, it will give us the opportunity to take up innovative ideas and new concepts that will serve as important additions to our quest for excellence and success,” Al Naqi concluded.
Dubai is one of four remaining cities contending to host the 2020 World Expo; the other candidates include São Paulo, Brazil; Izmir, Turkey; and Ekaterinburg, Russia. Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) will go through the votes cast by its 167 member nations on November 27th to decide which city will host the expo.
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UAE’s Growing Student Population Creates Urgent Need for More Schools Across the Country

GETEX Spring 2013’s General Education segment to present comprehensive information about new education providers and summer camps
UAE, Febraury 28th, 2013 – UAE’s student population has increased 7 per cent over the last five years and is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, according to data released by International Conferences and Exhibitions LLC (IC&E), organiser of GETEX, which is the most effective and result-driven forum for student recruitment in the Middle East and Asia. This underlines the urgent need to introduce new schools across the country and meet the rising demand for quality education. At a recent private education forum held in Abu Dhabi, education officials pointed out that by 2020, nearly AED 4 billion would need to be invested into private education in Abu Dhabi alone, to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to cope with demand.

Given this industry outlook, the upcoming edition of GETEX Spring, which will be held in Dubai from April 17 to 19, 2013, will feature a General Education segment that will present school-goers with a gateway of information on day-scholar, residential/boarding schools and summer camps. With a host of new schools being featured at GETEX each year, parents will have an opportunity to select education providers that best match their requirements.
       
Anselm Godinho, Managing Director, IC&E, comments, “The UAE’s private education sector is among the biggest in the world and is set to grow further given the rapid rise of the student population in the country. Parents today need to be well-informed about the options they have in terms of the schools they can enrol their children into, and this is where the General Education segment at GETEX will prove invaluable. It will help students and parents make informed and timely decisions that could go a long way in determining a student’s academic development.”  
GETEX Spring 2013, which marks the 25th edition of the show, will gather thousands of education industry stakeholders to provide a dedicated networking platform that supports the long-term growth and development of the region’s education sector. Apart from its General Education segment, this silver jubilee edition of GETEX will feature Higher Education and Professional Training segments, and will also focus on Sports Education, Education Tourism and Education Resources & Supplies. 
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F1 in Schools: Students Take Learning Live

Abu Dhabi, UAE, November 11th, 2011 – As part of its commitment as the presenting partner of the UAE F1TM in School Challenge, Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala), is giving participating students of this year’s F1 in Schools programme tickets to the 2011 Formula 1™ Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The F1 in School Challenge is an educational programme designed to provide students with an in-depth experience of Formula One racing, in turn fostering a greater appreciation for engineering, science and technology, marketing and various other disciplines involved in the sport. Mubadala are giving the current F1 in Schools students.
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Ziad J Azzam, CEO of Taaleem Talking to BBC about Private Education in the UAE ( video)

The annual scramble to secure places for children at the UAE’s private schools is over and children are returning to the classroom.

About 80% of the country’s population is expatriate so most youngsters are not entitled to state school tuition. 
And this provides a massive opportunity for private companies to enter the education industry.
Some schools charge £20,000 a year but offer five star facilities. Others come without the frills and have fees of just a few hundred pounds.
With such a wide variation in prices and facilities, how does the country’s need for a functioning education system stack up against the desire of these businesses to turn a profit?
Simon Atkinson reports.
 
 
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The Advantages of School Uniforms

Recently, a lot of schools throughout the United States adopted school uniform policies and made it a requirement for the students to wear uniforms. School administrations underline that wearing uniforms has positive effects on academic success and behavior of the students. However, a lot of sociologists argue that there are also certain drawbacks of a compulsory uniform system in schools. That is why the issue of school uniforms is a popular debate topic among teachers and parents.

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