Saturday, June 19, 2010

Abu Dhabi to deport hundreds of Palestinian teachers

"Alquds Al Arabi have learned that Abu Dhabi government terminated the contracts of most of the Palestinian teachers, 132 from Abu Dhabi, 78 from the western region and 100 from Al Ain. Those sources have said that they have been terminated because of their Islamic sympathetic cause and collecting donation for the Islamci Resistance Movement 'Hamas'. Many of those have been living in the UAE before the independence in 1971." [AlQuds Al Arabi]

Here is what the directer general of Abu Dhabi Education Council Dr. Mugheer Al Khaili have said about the termination.

"The teachers were terminated for four basic reasons. 1) Reaching 60 yo which is the legal age for retirement. 2) Resignation, 3) ending the contract and 4) Emiratization" [Albayan]

He didn't refer to the Palestinians in anyway though. Albayan titled the article as "Commenting on the termination of the services of 300 teachers. I personally would believe what AlQuds Alarabi news paper have said. There have been a systematic cleansing in the education sector for so long. And since when was turning 60 years old an excuse to terminate the contracts? I've seen workers reaching the age of 70 and they still get an extension for their so called "holy" job and what is holier than teaching? And what did he mean by "ending the contract". As far as I know all contracts for non Emiratis end after a certain number of years so eventually all of the workers will have their contracts ended when they are due so this isn't a termination reason. They simply do not want them.

There is a gap between what the government is trying to show us and what they are doing in reality. What do they really want and what do they fear?

As for Emiratization, give me a break. They don't want Emirati male teachers in the sector for the same reasons that made them kick those Palestinian. There are barely 500 Emirati male teachers comparing to 6,000 Emirati female teachers in Abu Dhabi. Their number is probably way less in other Emirates because most of the Emirati males go to work specifically in Abu Dhabi because they earn like 8k more than teachers from other Emirates.

Here is a video of a peaceful march of 84 Emiratis teachers near the ministry of education building about two years ago who were either kicked off to other ministries or forced to retire from the ministry of Education.


4 comments:

  1. PE, from what i know is that Dr. mugheer has been appointed as the head of AbuDhabi Education Council around two years ago to lead the much needed education reform in the Emirate (not EmirateS).
    Education reform which included better curricula, better teaching techniques, and capable young teachers who can keep up with kids nowadays who start school already familiar with new technologies.
    Don't get me wrong, we love our brothers the Palestinians, but does that mean we turn our education sector to a charity? As you mentioned, some of them have been in the UAE since before 1971, but isn't that enough especially to be working in the education sector?
    By the way, this clip is of Emarati teachers who are working at a federal level. Their issue was related to a decision made by the Ministry of education if i remember. However, Dr. Mugheer's jurisdiction is the local level (AD, Western region, eastern region) only

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  2. I know what ur trying to say; however; the decision that is related to firing those Palestinians and the Emiratis before them has nothing to do with Dr. Mugheer or the Ministry of Education. The authority is higher than both of them.

    Am not against modernizing education. I totally support it as long as their are no hidden agendas. I agree that most of those teachers have outdated methods of teachings and it is for the good for everyone of they are replaced. In fact I was going to use the exact word 'charity' but deleted the whole paragraph all together because what I wrote sounded racist. I bet that most of them don't even know how to use computers.

    My only dilemma is about the real reason behind what the government has done.

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  3. 'My only dilemma is about the real reason behind what the government has done.'

    Ok, maybe the government did it for your own security as a citizen.

    Maybe the government is trying to be diplomatic in stating the rational behind their decision, and they have to.

    There are many things governments resort to, and sometimes take extreme measures & precautions to secure and safegaurd their citizens. These measures are not always favorable.

    The US invaded Iraq because of the internal 'terrorism' threat. What did we do in comparison?

    As long as I, as a citizen of this country, am safe, I don't need my government to justify it for me. If anything, we should be thankful.

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  4. Look at America....when they use the services of any spy in the world they always come back for them........they show an example for the history and people work for them as spy's because they proved how they stand behind the people that serve for them.......and now we know hoe UAE serves the people that serves them..by deportation ..............UAE is very rich, and they could BUY there security buy paying them money or buying them a home for 100,000$ each in some other country.....you have the right but make people happy....they are not slaves to be played like football when ever they want...they have friends, there life hear from the beginning....SHAME [The problem is that we forget that we have one book : Quran, we have one prophet: Mohammed. We all pray to God...... and we come from the same descendents who build Islam side by side with our prophet.... but still we are all stupid to make our slaves different and create religious borders.....we should choose, either it would be a super Islamic country...or it should be a democratic country.......it is a very dangerous game UAE is playing....if crossed could cause allot of damage....wish the best to all

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