Parents in UAE question personal and legal survey on school pupils

‘Health and safety’ study by Abu Dhabi school authority caught parents and teachers off guard with questions on personal issues

ABU DHABI // School officials at the Abu Dhabi Education Council have been conducting a survey among secondary students that asks personal and legal questions, in turn raising questions among parents.

The “Youth Risk Behaviour Survey”, which Adec called a health-and-safety survey, asked Cycle 3 students – grades 10, 11 and 12 – more than 100 questions. In a memo issued on April 14, teachers were asked to administer the survey to children in computer-science classes. Although participation was voluntary, parents were not consulted.

Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, director general of Adec, said that the council “conducts annual surveys of public schools for the purpose of gathering key indicators which include important feedback from the relevant stakeholders, including teachers, students and parents”.

She continued that this year, “Adec, along with five other major government entities in the UAE, is participating in a survey programme aimed at accessing key matrixes that affect the overall well-being of the student and school environment”.

She added: “This programme is one that has been also launched in 75 countries around the world. Prior to launching the full programme, Adec, along with its Government partners, performed a pilot survey and is now evaluating the process to ensure proper consultation with stakeholders with a key focus on parents.”

Although an Adec memo sent to teachers said the survey was to continue to June 5, the website it was on has since gone offline.

Dr Al Qubaisi said that “it is Adec’s policy to consult and seek feedback from parents, institutions and teachers and considers such consults to be a pillar of its strategy.”

The survey seems to mirror closely the Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance System survey produced by the Centres for Disease Control in the US. That survey was conducted in high schools across the country. Although participation was voluntary, parental permission was required.

The questions in the Adec survey range from the innocuous, asking about students’ eating and car-safety habits, to those quite personal, asking about possible drug use and views on homosexuality.

An Emirati teacher who was asked to administer the survey this week to high-school girls said she was taken by surprise by it.

“They have opened the students’ eyes to things and words that some of them are unaware of.”

The message on Adec’s web portal says the survey was “valuable to draw accurate and broad insights into the advantages and challenges of the education system in the Abu Dhabi emirate”.

It stressed that all information provided was confidential and “no names will ever be reported to anyone. The answers you give will be kept confidential. No one will know what you write. Answer the questions based on what you really do”.

The memo received by computer-science teachers at an Al Ain girls’ school said pupils had to complete the survey during class time.

According to the memo: “Students must complete the survey at school under the supervision of the computer lab instructor ... it will take approximately 35 minutes to complete.”

S A, a German mother of four, said: “I see no justification for it. ”

The survey also asked students if they had ever been physically, sexually or emotionally abused on school premises or in the home.

Other questions parents said they found disturbing asked if students carried weapons, such as a gun or a knife, to school, and how many times they had driven a car while taking drugs such as marijuana and cocaine and whether or not they had tried to commit suicide.

Parents and teachers agreed that having lectures or lessons on activities and behaviours that were considered illegal or culturally unacceptable would be a better way to present such issues. They also thought it was the role of a guidance counsellor to ask students many of the questions privately.

“Students won’t answer these questions truthfully or even bother to answer them in the first place,” an Adec guidance counsellor said.

“They don’t even complain to us guidance counsellors. In a school of over 300 students, I’ve had only five students come forward with complaints of some sort of abuse and they will only come forward once and never again.”