Rumaisa Mohani decided to launch E-Aid to tutor students online. Delores Johnson / The National
Rumaisa Mohani decided to launch E-Aid to tutor students online. Delores Johnson / The National
Rumaisa Mohani decided to launch E-Aid to tutor students online. Delores Johnson / The National
Rumaisa Mohani decided to launch E-Aid to tutor students online. Delores Johnson / The National

Teacher's brainwave launches tutoring tool


Gillian Duncan
  • English
  • Arabic

Rumaisa Mohani has worked as a teacher in the UAE for the past 17 years. But she often struggled to find the time to tutor students outside of work. So when she heard of the I Dare Business Plan Competition run by the organisation GIST - Global Innovation through Science and Technology - which was held in Dubai last month, she had just the idea: an online tutoring portal, which won the team she led the award for "best female entrepreneur". She speaks about the next step.

q Tell me about the idea behind E-Aid.

a It is online tutoring. Teachers are very busy. They cannot go and at the end the student cannot get teachers to teach them, especially at exam time. [And in some parts of the world] teachers cannot go to students' homes due to transport problems, weather conditions [or] political situations.

What gave you the idea?

I was always very busy and I had students calling me all the time [asking me to] teach them, but I had no time, so I decided to start this.

What is the next step for you?

The [U$15,000 prize grant] will be used in the project. We have so much demand from people and lots of people are coming to us. They want us to be very fast about this. We will start this quickly.

What kind of time scale are you looking at to get it up and running?

It will take maybe two or three months because now it is the holidays. We will develop everything, and we are looking to the exam time, which starts in November, especially the British exams. That's the main time period for us. We will be ready maybe in September or October. That's the time when there is a huge rush.

How does it all work?

The teachers will be an expert in the subject, be qualified and technology trained. We will have our own technology. We will have our own software we are designing. We explained everything in our presentation … with diagrams and so on. [Initially] it will be available only in the evening, but we want it to be full-time, so we will have a programme where within one year we will hire online teachers from all over the world so we can cover world timings, like 24/7, because the teachers will be in different time zones.

Do you plan to give up your day job or are you going to continue working when E-Aid is up and running?

I am a teacher, so it is a half-day job. That means I can devote time to it. And actually jobs are good for us, because we will be in touch with our clients like this.

* Gillian Duncan

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6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 Group 1 (PA) Dh119,373 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Brraq, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Jean-Claude Pecout (trainer)

7.05pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Taamol, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (Turf) 1,800m
Winner: Eqtiraan, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

8.15pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial (TB) Dh183,650 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Soft Whisper, Pat Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor.

9.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Hypothetical, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,000m
Winner: Etisalat, Sando Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe

8 traditional Jamaican dishes to try at Kingston 21

  1. Trench Town Rock: Jamaican-style curry goat served in a pastry basket with a carrot and potato garnish
  2. Rock Steady Jerk Chicken: chicken marinated for 24 hours and slow-cooked on the grill
  3. Mento Oxtail: flavoured oxtail stewed for five hours with herbs
  4. Ackee and salt fish: the national dish of Jamaica makes for a hearty breakfast
  5. Jamaican porridge: another breakfast favourite, can be made with peanut, cornmeal, banana and plantain
  6. Jamaican beef patty: a pastry with ground beef filling
  7. Hellshire Pon di Beach: Fresh fish with pickles
  8. Out of Many: traditional sweet potato pudding
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Director: Scott Cooper

Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong

Rating: 4/5

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
THE SIXTH SENSE

Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Rating: 5/5

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Who was Alfred Nobel?

The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.

  • In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
  • Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
  • Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Mane points for safe home colouring
  • Natural and grey hair takes colour differently than chemically treated hair
  • Taking hair from a dark to a light colour should involve a slow transition through warmer stages of colour
  • When choosing a colour (especially a lighter tone), allow for a natural lift of warmth
  • Most modern hair colours are technique-based, in that they require a confident hand and taught skills
  • If you decide to be brave and go for it, seek professional advice and use a semi-permanent colour
MATCH INFO

What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Watch live

The National will broadcast live from the IMF on Friday October 13 at 7pm UAE time (3pm GMT) as our Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi moderates a panel on how technology can help growth in MENA.

You can find out more here

How to wear a kandura

Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
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Don’ts 

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