The results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) rankings were released this week. While the UAE retained its top ranking in the region, there was a drop in global ranking for science and reading. Many pay close attention to these results due to the target of reaching the top 20 set by National Agenda. While these targets allow educators to craft strategies for raising the quality of education in the country, standardised tests don’t accurately reveal our national strengths and areas for improvements.
To better understand the role that these tests can play in society, let’s look at how and why certain countries perform better than others. Countries such as Japan, Finland and South Korea that are regularly in the top 10 benefit from their homogeneous and closed societies in preparing for these tests. They have one national curriculum and, given the relative lack of diversity in their societies, they are able to prepare their children in a single holistic manner to excel. The results of this singular, national focus is their strong results in international tests.
If we shift our focus toward multicultural societies such as the United States, the results are much more revealing. The US regularly fails to crack the top 20 ranking of Pisa. Is this because American schoolchildren lack the intelligence of their Japanese counterparts? Of course not. Given the diversity of the US and the subsequent multiplicity in school curriculums, America doesn’t have the same advantage in training schoolchildren for standardised tests in a unified manner. While this is not great for testing, the result of America’s multicultural education sector is the country’s booming innovation sectors. Diversity breeds new ideas and approaches to problem solving.
The same can be said of the UAE’s education model. Children here don’t study just one curriculum. Rather, they are enrolled in our national curriculum as well as everything from Britain to India and everywhere in between. It is critical to set national targets of reaching the top 20 of the Pisa rankings because it forces education professionals to streamline their approach to teaching, but we can equally embrace the diversity of our education curriculums as a net positive. In mixed environments, such as our own, innovation naturally bubbles to the surface. Just as in the US, we are a melting pot of different nationalities and cultures. As the world grows closer, societies such as our own will naturally be at the forefront.
Can NRIs vote in the election?
Indians residing overseas cannot cast their ballot abroad
Non-resident Indians or NRIs can vote only by going to a polling booth in their home constituency
There are about 3.1 million NRIs living overseas
Indians have urged political parties to extend the right to vote to citizens residing overseas
A committee of the Election Commission of India approved of proxy voting for non-resident Indians
Proxy voting means that a person can authorise someone residing in the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his behalf.
This option is currently available for the armed forces, police and government officials posted outside India
A bill was passed in the lower house of India’s parliament or the Lok Sabha to extend proxy voting to non-resident Indians
However, this did not come before the upper house or Rajya Sabha and has lapsed
The issue of NRI voting draws a huge amount of interest in India and overseas
Over the past few months, Indians have received messages on mobile phones and on social media claiming that NRIs can cast their votes online
The Election Commission of India then clarified that NRIs could not vote online
The Election Commission lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police asking it to clamp down on the people spreading misinformation
MO
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Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh359,000
On sale: now
SPECS
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MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Company%20profile
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The specs: 2018 Renault Koleos
Price, base: From Dh77,900
Engine: 2.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 170hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 233Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.3L / 100km
PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The Breadwinner
Director: Nora Twomey
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq
Three stars
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Kill%20Bill%20Volume%201
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