Female Emirati students attending a phase 1 sales class as part of the YES program at the Institute of Applied Technology in Dubai. Sarah Dea / The National
Female Emirati students attending a phase 1 sales class as part of the YES program at the Institute of Applied Technology in Dubai. Sarah Dea / The National
Female Emirati students attending a phase 1 sales class as part of the YES program at the Institute of Applied Technology in Dubai. Sarah Dea / The National
Female Emirati students attending a phase 1 sales class as part of the YES program at the Institute of Applied Technology in Dubai. Sarah Dea / The National

How critical are global test results?


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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

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While you're here
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

'O'
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