The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) launched its new website in efforts to provide ongoing improvement in technology and a more effective communication channel among ADEC’s internal and external customers and strategic partners.

ADEC’s website is the main gate for all users and those willing to be informed about the education sector and transformation in education across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Speaking at the launching ceremony held in the Abu Dhabi Fairmont Hotel, H.E. Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Director General of ADEC, said, “ADEC is keen to use and apply latest technology in different operations and programmes to provide better services for its stakeholders. In today’s world, the wide variety of technological and social networking tools inform decision making. Thus, we are looking forward to serving all strategic partners, students, parents and other local and international stakeholders through our new website.”

H.E. added, “The standards applied in the new website come in line with Abu Dhabi’s ambitious vision as well as ADEC’s branding strategy. Providing customers with various state-of-the-art services, the new website is linked to all school websites.”

As part of the first phase of the School Website Project, the websites of 7 schools were developed. This year, two more phases will be implemented to create websites for the remaining public schools across the Emirate. The new website has more than 400 links in Arabic and in English, a number that is 62% more than the old one.

The pilot launching phase lasted a month and aimed to identify weaknesses and technical issues, if any. During that phase, and according to international ranking websites, ADEC was one of the top 200 websites in UAE, with more than two million visits/users, with 85% of them from UAE.

Visiting nearly nine links, a user’s average visiting time is approximately nine minutes. Chief among the visited links are the assessment results, careers, surveys, school calendar, services, and parent sections.

Mr. Salem Al Sayari, ADEC’s Executive Director of Support Services, said, “The website was designed using the latest technology that enables all visitors to easily access and navigate its various sections and allows for future expansion and development necessary to meet increasing work needs and to best serve customers.”

“The new website was developed by top IT expertise under the supervision of ADEC’s ICT and Strategic Communication and Media Division. In addition, the highest quality and security standards were applied,” Mr. Al Sayari indicated.

“The upgrading of ICT infrastructure in schools helped facilitate the creation of ADEC’s comprehensive website linked to school websites,” said Mr. Al Sayari.

Accurate and transparent information on ADEC divisions, services, programmes and projects can be easily accessed through the website. During the ceremony, Dr. Al Khaili and Mr. Al Sayari honored employees from the website development team.

Parents of a student in Al Ameen School lauded the website and described it as an amazing initiative, since it allows parents to be in touch with the different activities in the school. “I was especially impressed with the easy access to the schools schedule, since this is one way of understanding what my son is studying day by day.”

Ms. Mariam Mohamed, parent of a school student called Mansour Al Ottaiba in Al Ameen School, said, “The website is highly interactive for parents, since it encourages more interface between the school and families. This website is particularly suitable for working parents, who have no time to visit the school during their working hours. Information is available with a touch of button.”

Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Municipality (ADM), Emirates College for Advanced Education (ECAE) and Community Police, organized ‘Story in the Park’ events in Abu Dhabi.

This comes in line with Abu Dhabi Reads Campaign launched earlier in order to promote reading among students and community members in general.

During the Story in the Park events, reading sessions and workshops were organized in certain public parks in Abu Dhabi, namely Khalifa Park, Al Bahia Park and Dome@Rawdhat during the period April 15-23. Organized by community police, the activities are carried out with the participation of school learning resource specialists, ECAE students in order to develop a well-educated generation capable of using state-of-the-art educational technology.

Mr. Ahmed Al Suwaidi, ADEC’s Strategic Communication Section Manager, said that these activities help encourage children to read in an atmosphere different from home and school.

“Students are invited to visit the participating parks and take part in the morning reading events. One or two stories are selected and read in each session and gifts and stories are distributed to children at the end of session,” he added.

“By organizing these events, ADEC aims to enhance student skills and train them on using books and references to obtain and analyze information. Children also learn how to effectively manage their time and to adopt good habits. The reading activities are designed to develop a generation equipped with knowledge and skills necessary for change and competition in a fast-paced world.,” he said.

Mr. Abdullah Nasser Al Junaibi, ADM’s Director of Community Service Department, said that ADM is keen to actively participate in Abu Dhabi Reads campaign. This comes in line with its continuous support of various social development initiatives.

“With goals consistent with those of the campaign, ADM is encouraging three to ten year old children to read in public spaces, particularly parks, since 2009,” he said.

“Read a Story activities are organized by ADM for the fourth year in a row. These aim to foster community involvement, while teaching children lessons about preserving environment and adopting favorable habits,” he added.

Civil society organizations should join forces to promote reading habits among younger generations in order to enable them to gain knowledge and contribute to the socio-economic development in the future, Al Junaibi added.

Some ECAE students participate in the events by organizing free reading and art sessions and various entertaining activities. “ECAE supports ADEC initiatives designed to improve the skills of young learners. Thus, our students, who will be the future teachers, are keen to contribute to these efforts by applying the teaching methods and creative thinking skills they have learned at ECAE,” said Mrs. Samira Al Nuaimi, Head of Student Affairs and Development at ECAE.

Community police plays a key role in raising the awareness of community members in general and in relation to the organization of Story in the park Events in particular.

“Reading is one of the priorities of the community police department through the different campaigns it has with ADEC and the different educational establishments. Our participation in “Abu Dhabi Reads” campaign consists of awareness sessions for school children to encourage them to read more and through the distribution of booklets and leaflets designed in an attractive manner to attract the children and seize their attention and imagination,” said Captain Mubarak Awad Bin Mhiroum, head of Community Police, Abu Dhabi.

Ms. Mona Mohammed, LRC specialist at Al Jeel Al Jadeed KG in Abu Dhabi, lauded the wide variety of activities carried out within the Story in the Park event. Reading in the greenery is a unique interactive activity that allows children to acquire knowledge in an attractive environment. Stories focus on national culture and heritage in addition to Arabic and English literacy.

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) organized orientation sessions in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western region on scholarship programs that target distinguished Emirati Grade 12 students, who are allowed to continue their education in top universities in the UAE and abroad.

The orientation sessions aim to inform students about the available opportunities in specializations most required to meet labor market needs in the Emirate and incentives offered by ADEC to high performing scholars.

Dr. Eisa Al Matroushi, ADEC’s Guidance and Scholarship Division Manager said that “ADEC is keen to organize such orientation sessions for Grade 12 students across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi every year. Students received academic and career guidance on disciplines and future careers required in line with Abu Dhabi’s Economic Vision 2030.”

During orientation activities, presentations were delivered and students had the chance to discuss eligibility criteria and incentives with ADEC officials. Many students were thankful for the valuable information given by guidance and scholarship teams that has helped make crucial decisions regarding their academic and future career paths.

“The Scholarship Program is designed to provide human capital necessary for contributing to the socio-economic development. Unique opportunities are offered by ADEC in collaboration with partner government institutions,” said Dr. Al Matroushi.

To be eligible, students must be Emirati nationals with a minimum score of 85% in Grade 12 or equivalent. Students must also pass an interview to receive one of the scholarships offered by ADEC in certain priority areas. Scholars must maintain a minimum score of 3.0.

Monthly stipends are paid to scholars while ADEC will help secure job opportunities upon successful graduation from the scholarship program which is highly supported by the Abu Dhabi government. Last year, the Abu Dhabi Executive Council approved an additional budget of Dhs197m to increase the number of scholars over the next four years.

In addition, all students are allowed to participate in summer training programs provided by ADEC in prominent institutions in UAE and abroad. These programs help trainees acquire hands-on and communication skills necessary for their future careers.

In their aim to provide treatment services to Emirati students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the New England Center for Children (NECC), which operates in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), has relocated its services to a larger facility located in Mohammed Bin Zayed City.

This new state of the art building was designed to be a premier facility for children with autism.

ADEC Prior to its transfer to ADEC in January 2010, NECC Abu Dhabi operated in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) since 2007.

There are currently in Abu Dhabi an estimated 1,466 Emirati children from birth to 14 years of age who can benefit from a specialized ASD programme. By the year 2020 this number will increase to approximately 1,655.

“As part of ADEC’s 10 Year Strategic Plan to offer all students quality education regardless of their background, ethnicity or condition, ADEC has partnered with NECC to help offer transitional students some of the world’s best educational systems, with assisted equipment and facilities that can help ease the process for both therapists and the children themselves,” said H.E. Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, ADEC’s Director General.

Autism is a disorder of brain development and a developmental disorder with onset in infancy. Young children with autism do not learn from their environment like typical children do, thus development does not proceed normally.

Most children with autism have language deficits, lack social behaviors such as eye contact, and may engage in repetitive or unusual behaviors. Many children with autism will learn when given highly structured and consistent teaching that requires them to participate actively in their education.

The condition appears to be genetically determined, and is the fastest growing developmental disability occurring in all racial, ethnic and social groups. It is approximately four times more likely to affect boys than girls. When fully operational the facility will have the capacity to provide services for 108 students including a short term residential programme for 24 children.

H.E Saif Bader Al Qubaisi, Chairman and Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) praised the educational and specialized care for autistic children in the U.A.E. and showed his deep gratitude for the collaborative efforts of the NECC, ADEC, SEHA and the private project team who have studied the design and implementation of the project.

He added, “Our vision is to establish an integrated chain of care for differently abled learners who have autism. The center aims to provide a specialized educational curriculum for autistic children, integrate them into society, and create the social awareness required to accept cases of autism.”

SEHA had built the center and, upon completion, handed it over to ADEC. The Center was created on an area of 13 thousand square meters and consists of two buildings: one for residential children and another for autistic educational purposes. The education building accommodates 100 students consisting of 4 floors and includes administration offices, classrooms, restaurants, a gymnasium, and clinic, library to support teachers, basement for parking, and an indoor swimming pool located on the top floor.

The apartment building housing children is comprised of four suites, with each suite consisting of six rooms. In addition, there are two floors of rooms designed for in-house supervisors and includes places to familiarize students with ways to behave while at home, thereby easing the pressure on their families. The children’s building also includes a sports stadium, gardens, games and a library.

This center is designed in a contemporary manner and according to the highest international engineering standards in building and planning. The interior space, from the choice of colors to proximity awareness for anticipated movements of children, are all in line with the guidelines of specialized global consulting firms acting in full coordination with autistic health experts as well as the collaborative input of the NECC.

The structure and design of the building derives from its function of creating an optimum environment for children with ASD, with every design nuance in the learning and living facilities being carefully considered.

Mr. Vincent Strully, CEO and Founder of NECC, said, “NECC, in collaboration with the ADEC, is charged with providing world-class care and treatment for children with autism in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with the aim of offering direct service to children and their families, education and professional development for service providers and research in best treatment practices for autism and related disabilities. The opening of this new facility establishes Abu Dhabi as a world leader in the treatment of autism.”

The NECC has more than 37 years of experience treating children with autism in the United States. During this time, NECC has developed the Autism Curriculum Encyclopedia (ACE), an effective curriculum based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and empirically-based treatment.

ACE teaches the fundamental skills and concepts that are often lacking in children with autism, for example, communication, socialization, play skills, and academics.

“We are certain that our children in NECC will receive some of the world’s highest assistance and care. When the centre first started it consisted of therapists from the US. Now, more than half the staff members working in the centre consist of Arabic speakers, mostly Emirati and from the Gulf region. This is a positive sign since it shows that awareness regarding transitional children is increasing in the Gulf Region, which helps ease our journey towards integration and inclusion for special needs students,” said Dr. Al Khaili.

Mr. Adam Hughes, Education Special Programmes Section Manager at ADEC praised the ADEC NECC partnership which continues to educate children with autism and raise awareness amongst parents who are unfamiliar with the condition. “The NECC provides a highly structured, intensive learning environment that engages students through a consistent individualized academic, behavioral and social programme.

NECC Abu Dhabi also provides free monthly training seminars to the general public. These are open to parents, teachers, and anyone who has an interest in learning more about effective autism treatment.

Dr. Daniel Gould, Chief Clinical Officer for the NECC Abu Dhabi, advises parents who are suspicious about their young children to seek immediate screening for autism, “There are early autism signs among young babies. For example if your baby does not smile often or show joyful expressions by six months; doesn’t share sounds or facial expressions by 9 months; no babbling by 12 months; no back and forth gestures such as pointing, reaching or waving by 12 months; no two-word meaningful phrases by 24 months; no response when child’s name is called by 10 months and finally any loss of speech or social skills at any age.”

Parents who are suspicious about their young children should contact the local health authority to arrange for a screening for autism. Approximately 67 million people worldwide are affected by autism. “Autism is the fastest growing serious developmental disability in the world. More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with diabetes, cancer, and AIDS combined,” concluded Dr. Gould.

The Abu Dhabi Education Council’s (ADEC’s) Licensing and Accreditation Division in cooperation with Seha Management met with 128 private school nurses from Abu Dhabi and the Western regions to discuss the vaccination process and its requirements.

The meeting was held to highlight the important role played by school nurses in terms of vaccinations, and how to help encourage more students to take necessary vaccines on time.

Despite a team of Seha nurses taking care of private school vaccinations, a private school student’s vaccination is a shared responsibility between the school health’s vaccination team from Seha and the private school nurse.

Kindergarten to Grade 12 Private school students across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi are meant to receive various types of vaccinations to help prevent the spread of contagious diseases. Grades 1, 5 and 9 are required to go through preventive comprehensive medical screening.

Abu Dhabi Emirate Federal Law #27 of 1981 chapter 3, article 21 requires that all students should be immunized against communicable diseases. These requirements are determined by Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) and the higher national committee for immunization program.

“Many parents chose not to vaccinate their children out of fear, but this results in students falling sick. That is why we held this meeting, to ask private school nurses to align with ADEC and Seha’s team of nurses and help educate parents and the students with the crucial benefits of vaccinations. Vaccines help protect school children from receiving a virus or a bacteria, especially those whose immunity system is compromised or weak,” said Engineer Hamad Al Dhaheri, ADEC’s Executive Director of PSQA Sector.

During the meeting, school nurses were reminded of their exact responsibility to help prepare students for a vaccination. Some of which included assessing students vaccination status through the student’s health record, pre-school vaccination record and school health pre-vaccination checklist; nurses are also required to list the students eligible for vaccination as per their grades, distribute and collect the signed vaccination consent from parents, the filled pre-vaccination checklist, and a copy of a valid health insurance card.

Dr. Najah Mustapha, School Health Services Director, said, “The health of children is a major concern to all stakeholders in the emirate of Abu-Dhabi as they are the future leaders of tomorrow. Their well-being affects their academic performance and achievements in life. One of the crucial elements of disease prevention and health promotion is immunization. Parents as well as school nurses play vital roles in ensuring effective immunization especially against communicable diseases. Towards this direction, AHS and Abu Dhabi Education Council will collaborate with nurses working in Abu Dhabi-based private schools with the aim of tackling strategies that enhance immunization coverage among students.”

School nurses are also responsible of identifying student counts eligible for a school age vaccination program, communicate the targeted students count with the school health vaccination team, send notification letters to student’s parents about the vaccination appointment as well as educate students about the vaccine.

However when speaking to school nurses, they all felt that their role regarding vaccines poses a huge challenge for them.

According to Wageda Ghazi, a school nurses in Elite School (KG-12), many parents refuse to sign the vaccination consent letter. “No matter what we do, it’s always a parent’s choice to accept a vaccine for their child, and many reject, so our hands are tied.”

Amal Neimatallah, school nurse in the Manhal Private School (KG-12) explained that many parents refuse to sign on the vaccination paperwork, and in a lot of cases students fail to deliver the paperwork to their parents, especially amongst the younger students. “Grade 1 is a huge challenge in our school, since students are very young, and either forget to give the paperwork to their parents or refuse to, since their scared of the vaccine.”

Dowell Barreto, School Nurse at the Emirates Private School (KG-Grade 12) feels that there are major communication problems amongst schools and parents and he feels this can be solved through three methods: holding out regular meetings with parents about the importance of vaccination, using social media and distributing educational material (pamphlets, leaflets, brochures) to help educate parents and keep them alert on the different vaccinations required.

In order to prevent an outbreak of a serious disease and to keep the health and welfare of students under control, ADEC and Seha are planning to launch an awareness campaign regarding the importance of vaccination for parents.

“Parents are our main stakeholders and we will do all we can to reach out to them for the sake of our youth. Seha and school nurses are doing a great job, however there’s very little they can do if parents don’t cooperate. That is why we request them to work with us and help promote the health of our children,” concluded Engineer Al Dhaheri.

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) held the Irtiqa’a /Self Evaluation Training over the course of two days for 1,194 principals, vice principals and heads of faculty to help familiarize them on the process of inspection.

The first batch of 433 principals and middle leaders (vice-principals, heads of faculty) were given a detailed session on what is needed to help maintain the quality of education across their schools, since they are due to be inspected anytime this year.

During the training, school leaders participated in learning activities designed to promote deep professional understanding and engagement with the Irtiqa’a process.

The training focused on the eight Irtiqa’a Performance Standards which define the areas of provision and quality service against which all schools will be evaluated, namely: Student Standards and progress; Student Personal development; the Quality of teaching; Meeting Student Needs Through the Curriculum; Student Protection, care, guidance, and support; Buildings and premises; Resources; Leadership and management.

“Training is an essential part of the Irtiqa’a process. In order to support schools to achieve international benchmarks of best practice, school leaders and teachers must receive high quality training and support. Training can empower school leaders and teachers to achieve outstanding results,” said Ms. Maryam Saqer, Inspection Programme Manager who’s also responsibility for The Irtiqa’a programme.

Principals and middle leaders were also provided with resources and support to assist them in the in-school delivery and development of Irtiqa’a training and development for all staff from January 2012 onwards.

Working in collaboration, the ADEC Inspection and Monitoring Division, the ADEC Professional Development Division, and the Tamkeen provider companies created the training module to support the implementation of the Irtiqa’a inspection and self-evaluation process.

The Tamkeen: Empowering Educators program helps supports the development of qualified and skilled teachers and school leaders who can support the Emirate of Abu Dhabi as it aims to enhance the quality of educational outcomes achieved by students.

The Irtiqa’a program challenges all public and private schools to ‘go higher’ by introducing a world-class programme of school inspection and self-evaluation. By introducing a comprehensive inspection system regulated and defined by the ADEC Inspection Framework, Irtiqa’a aims to evaluate all schools against the highest international standards so that the journey towards excellence required by Abu Dhabi’s 2030 vision may be established.

Running alongside the external inspection of the school system is the Irtiqa’a Self Evaluation Framework which supports schools in evaluating their own provision and taking ownership of their journey towards the establishment of international best practices.

“The programme comes in line with ADEC’s Strategic Plan to provide students with high quality education that helps fit them in a globally competitive environment, one that helps contribute to the UAE’s socio-economic development. That is why we will continue offering the Irtiqa’a training sessions to schools,” concluded Ms. Saqer.

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) is keen on providing equal chances to students with special needs that helps exploit their talents, skills and abilities.

This comes in line with Abu Dhabi’s vision to provide quality care and services to special needs individuals in order to ensure equal opportunities and full integration into society.

H.E. Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al-Khaili, Director General of ADEC said: “ADEC’s 10-year strategy plan in developing the educational system across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi adopts many initiatives and programmes that foster the empowerment and rehabilitation of people with special needs in line with international standards.”

Dr. Al Khaili added: “ADEC aims to create an atmosphere of intimacy and strengthen the bond of interdependence among the special needs category, paying full attention to all aspects of care, ranging from the classroom environment, health, and social care to community-based rehabilitation.

He emphasized that this has led to a significant increase in the number of special needs individuals who have joined the labor market across various government entities and private institutions.

H.E. Mr. Mohammad Salem Al-Dhaheri, Executive Director of School Operations lauded ADEC DG’s great role in developing the services offered to students, while forming a technical committee.
 
“The Technical Committee that comprises specialized teams selected from across the three regional offices (Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region) has identified and assessed student needs in order to identify devices that will support student learning, resulting in substantial achievements and leading ADEC to gain tribute and appreciation by many specialized organizations,” said Mr. Al-Dhaheri.

Mr. Al-Dhaheri pointed out that the devices were carefully selected by the technical committee to help enhance student’s school performance.

“These new devices are a part of ADEC’s plan to provide more accessible teaching tools for students with special needs, thus providing equal education opportunities for all students.”

He added: “Working closely with all parties and especially families (the first to identify the disability) will help ADEC develop and best exploit talents, skills and abilities among students.”

The devices include 1125 hearing disability & speech difficulty devices, visual impairment, physical disability and learning disabilities (556 in Abu Dhabi, 408 in Al Ain and 161 in the Western Region). Specialized institutions for the supply of the equipment and training teachers were hired by ADEC.

Ms Hanaa Ali Issa Al-Hamdani, Head of the Technical committee said that the devices contained 34 different categories. “Hearing impaired students were given all types of hearing aid devices to help them enhance their performance.”

Al-Hamdani pointed out that during 2011, 2012 and 2013 the committee has provided special needs students with more than 50 different types of devices to best benefit all categories. Moreover, two speech therapy units, equipped with modern devices for diagnosis and treatment were opened.

One in Baniyas School and the other in Mubarak Bin Mohammad school; both are monitored and supervised by speech & language specialists.
A Visual Challenges Unit, equipped with latest devices which will help change students educational performance to the better also opened up at the Omair Bin Yousef School.

Ms Barea Haj Sulaiman, SNS support specialist said that seven categories benefitted from the devices, namely: the learning difficulties & learning resource center received 578 devices, students with speech and language impairment received 308 devices, those with hearing impairment received 92 devices, the visually impaired received 80 devices, students with autistic spectrum disorder received 58 device and those with Cerebral Palsy received nine devices.

“ADEC is planning to provide physically impaired students with tables designed especially for them to best suit their needs and requirements,” she added.

Mr. Aiman Abdullatif, ADEC Speech and language disorder specialist said that 160 hearing impaired students have received hearing aids and that a number of workshops will be organized to familiarize parents with the devices and teach them how to run them.

Mr. Abdullatif pointed out that 110 special education teachers have already attended hearing disability and speech difficulties workshops and 60 of them were selected to join workshops that helped train them on how to deal with students who received Link devices, by using Bell software.

“The Speech and language disorder teachers will attend intensive workshops to help familiarize them on how to use icons, images communication and photo-album devices to help them deal with autistic and cerebral palsy students,” he concluded.

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) has coordinated and assisted approximately 200 Geography and Information Technology (IT) teachers from across public and private schools on how to use a Geographic Information System (GIS) in their classrooms during the 2012 ESRI Middle East and Africa User Conference.

GIS, an evolving industry across the world, captures, manages, analyzes and displays all forms of geographic information, thus helps answer questions and solves problems in a speedy and smooth manner.

The 2012 Esri Middle East and Africa User Conference ran from December 10th to 12th 2012 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, in Abu Dhabi governments aim to introduce the different GIS careers that exist in various disciplines, from environmental science to commercial businesses and many others.

Teachers are encouraged to implement GIS and geographic education across classrooms as part of ADEC’s goal to teach students to think spatially, and to include GIS as a support tool across school curricula.

“With latest advances in technology, spatial education should be recognized as a pivotal part of education that helps prepare our youth to become part of a competitive market environment. For that reason, ADEC in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Center (ADSIC) and the Environment Systems Research Institute (ESRI), has organized and moderated several educational sessions for teachers, who have all been familiarized on applying practical GIS methods in their classrooms,” said Dr. Alaaeldin A. Aly, Knowledge Management Division Manager at ADEC.

“A good understanding of our geography enables us to make well-informed, coordinated and strategic decisions for the betterment of society. Through initiatives headlined by ADSIC’s Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure, the Abu Dhabi Government has emerged as a model of spatially-enabled growth across the region. We believe in the importance of generating awareness on the importance of GIS and promoting a spirit of technology-powered progress among our educators and the youths they mentor,” said Mr. Abdul Karim Al Raeesi, Director of Strategy & Planning, Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre.

Internationally, educators are integrating GIS to help study subjects such as geography, earth sciences, history, mathematics, language arts and many more. This helps better equip students with spatial thinking, location based problem solving and collaborative skills using proper geospatial information, tools and methods.

Teachers and attendees were also given the opportunity to understand the direction and means set forward by Abu Dhabi government in relation to spatial education.

Additionally, ADEC demonstrated their GIS applications and tools to the public in the Abu Dhabi Government pavilion.

A guest speaker specialized in spatial education has also demonstrated the importance of adopting spatial education in schools, and how it has helped improve schools overall performance.

“ADEC seeks to develop and implement innovative educational policies, plans and programs that will improve education in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and support educational institutions and staff. ADEC utilizes the latest technologies and tools, such as GIS to help support and increase the quality of the decision making process,” explained Dr. Alaaeldin.

The event has also familiarized around 200 Cycle 3 and university students with latest GIS technologies and job opportunities from other government entities.

In ADEC’s aim to integrate all students in taking interest in the initiative, a number of fun loving activities for Cycle 1 and 2 students were organized to help them learn more about applying the GIS through games such as puzzles and colors.

“In leveraging GIS technology, ADEC is more capable to achieve its ten-year Strategic Plan with regards to utilizing current school buildings and planning the future locations of new schools, reducing student performance gaps between areas, and balancing the distribution load of the teachers. GIS is also a great factor in ADEC initiatives such as: development of its public and private schools master plans, merger plans and replacement of schools, management of student transportation, and the improvement of student access to schools,” concluded Dr. Alaaeldin.

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) announced its participation in the 15th edition of the Hamdan Bin Rashed Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Academic Performance. ADEC’s participation comes in line with its keenness to actively participate in such educational rewards.

Preparations started early this academic year in coordination with school award coordinators due to the large number of applicants.

A number of 923 projects out of 4000 were submitted to the refereeing committee and 139 projects have been accepted.

H.E. Mr. Mohammad Salem Al Dhaheri, ADEC’s Executive Director of School Operations, said, “These awards promote creativity in all areas of education, enriching the education sector, enhancing the performance of students, teachers and administrative staff, while serving the achievement of strategic goals set out by the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030.”

During his visits to the committees, Mr. Al Dhahri was fully briefed on the refereeing process. In return, Mr. Al Dhahri emphasized ADEC’s role in supporting the needs of the committees.

He also requested that a team should be formed in order to visit ADEC schools and encourage students to participate in the award as well as provide all requirements for the award and look forward to increasing the number of applicants in the coming years.

“ADEC is always keen to encourage schools in Abu Dhabi, Al-Ain and the Western Region to participate in such annual academic awards,” said Mr. Al-Dhaheri.

Circulars and posters were sent to all public and private schools to announce the opening of submission period and nomination criteria. The committees began their work by reviewing the applications in November due to the large number of projects.

Adhoc committees organized a number of training sessions in various award categories i.e. Student, Teacher and Research. The sessions aimed to brief applicants about award criteria and best practices based on the information available.

The Award Coordination Office held four training sessions for the excellent student category, two for the excellent teacher category, one for the social worker category, one for project and innovation, one for the excellent school administration category, one for the excellent family category and one for the research category.

Refereeing Committees in Abu Dhabi ensured that applicants comply with the criteria as per the guidelines and the available information in the Refereeing Forum.

Al-Dhabianiah School applied for the excellent school administration category. The school has participated previously in many of the workshops and forums and has highly qualified teaching staff who have won several educational awards under the excellent teacher, students and educational project categories.

The review process in Abu Dhabi office went well and included reviewing and categorizing applications into three levels, student interviews and visiting teachers at schools. Referees were selected carefully from previous award committees based on their qualification, voluntary work and the number of winning nominations submitted from their side in previous awards.

The Award Coordination Office has put a lot of effort in organizing school visits aiming to motivate and encourage schools to participate in various award categories as well as organizing several training workshops that help applicants acquire the necessary skills to prepare and submit their projects. In addition, winners of awards from previous cycles also offered their assistance to applicants.

Employees working at the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) took part in submitting a healthy and easy entrée/meal recipe suitable for diabetic people, as part of ADEC’s keenness to spread awareness about healthy eating habits and diabetes.

According to Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) statistics, 21% of Emirati’s across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi above the age of 18 have diabetes. In general 44% of the population screened had evidence of either pre-diabetes or diabetes.

The HAAD Weqaya Screening (2009-2010) also show that 67% of Emirati’s are obese or overweight, 55% have central obesity, 44% have high lipid levels and 23% have high blood pressure.

Each employee’s recipe was included in the ADEC Recipe Book, a new initiative organized by ADEC’s Health Management Section along with the Health and Wellness Division, who together have been actively involved in launching several health related workshops for their staff.

ADEC employees were asked to submit their recipes before November 21st 2012. The recipe book consists of all recipes collected by ADEC’s staff members as well as information on diabetes prevention, which was made available for other employees to read about during a specialized diabetes workshop organized by the Health team at ADEC’s Headquarters today (November 28th 2012).

During the event, a few of the top recipes were selected and its preparation demonstrated. At the same time, staff given the opportunity to have their blood sugar levels tested.

Green apples for good health were also placed in baskets and offered to employees walking into the ADEC Headquarters building first thing in the morning and upon their arrival to work.
Earlier, ADEC’s Health team encouraged ADEC employees to participate in The Walk for Diabetes that took place on Yas Island last Friday, November 16th.

Nasseem Rouhani, Health Promotion Senior Specialist from the Health and Wellness Division mentioned that “We are delighted that so many staff has shown interest in submitting healthy recipes for our recipe book this year. This just shows that individuals are interested in preparing healthy meals and hopefully more people will be motivated to do so through the recipe book.”

Maitha Al Neyadi, Health Specialist from the Health Management Section mentioned that “diabetes is a disease that has existed in the UAE for quite some time now so it is natural for individuals to have experienced or heard about the disease either from within the family or through their close friends, however it is always beneficial to remind the people to remain healthy as it can be a constant struggle for some whom are in dire need of being guided towards a healthy lifestyle.”