Dubai police to hold parents guilty of child neglect accountable

Lt Gen Dhahi Khalfan, Deputy Chief of Police and Public Security in Dubai, said the Juvenile Awareness and Welfare Association would seek to open criminal cases with public prosecution should any such incidents be reported to police.

Neglect your child and you could be held accountable, a high-ranking Dubai police officer has warned parents.

At a majlis being held during Ramadan, Lt Gen Dhahi Khalfan, Deputy Chief of Police and Public Security in Dubai, said the Juvenile Awareness and Welfare Association would seek to open criminal cases with public prosecution should any such incidents be reported.

The association, Lt Khalfan said, was ready to pursue parents who had neglected their children or deprived them of their basic rights, Al Ittihad, the Arabic language sister paper of The National reported.

During the majlis, which focused on dialogue between parents and children on contemporary social matters, Lt Khalfan said the association was looking to fund a smartphone app, in cooperation with schools, that would provide parents with texts highlighting their child’s behaviour and academic performance. Parents would receive colour-coded messages, in green, orange or red, indicating the level of their child’s performance.

“Since the UAE government is now focusing on smart government, we need to find an innovative way to maintain communication between the school and parents through mobile phones and send parents detailed reports on the status of their children, their skills and behaviour,” Lt Khalfan said.

“We need to allocate a certain sign or index to measure the level of each student so nothing is hidden by the student.”

The audience also heard from Ahmed Al Mansouri, director of Dubai Educational Zone, who spoke about the “significant” shortfall of social workers in schools. Mr Al Mansouri said the Ministry of Education had to focus on hiring Emiratis in these roles as they had better understanding of local culture.