ABU DHABI // Private schools will come under closer government monitoring and teach compulsory national identity lessons under a law soon to be presented to the Federal National Council.
The Minister for Education, Humaid Al Qattami, told the council on Tuesday that the new law would require a greater emphasis on national identity in all schools.
Mr Al Qattami said that would include courses in Emirati society, Islamic studies and Arabic, due to start next academic year.
"The ministry stresses the importance of national identity for private schools, especially as a lot of our children go to these schools," he said. "The courses will be ready soon."
Schools are already required to fly a UAE flag and play the national anthem at morning assembly, Mr Al Qattami said.
New guidelines on national identity will be given to teachers at the start of the next year.
"After the law is passed we will have power over [private schools], and also the courses they run and activities that are directly linked to national identity," he said.
"I assure you that private schools are getting a lot of attention at the moment."
But the FNC member Ahmed Al Shamsi (Ajman) said it was not enough to pass laws, as greater supervision was needed.
"We are talking about a reality happening in private schools in the UAE, which has direct influence on education and national identity on our local children and Arab children studying in these schools," Mr Al Shamsi said.
"I ask the ministry to strengthen supervision over these schools, and fight all violations against national identity."
He said he realised the number of expatriates in the country made that difficult.
"Every nationality has their own customs and values and religions, and these mix through schools and curriculums,"Mr Al Shamsi said.
The minister agreed, saying that while the ministry previously had little power to supervise private schools, the law would change that.
"The ministry will hopefully play a bigger role in monitoring and have more power through laws that will come soon," Mr Al Qattami said.
Mr Al Shamsi bemoaned the quality of teaching in Arabic and Arab history in private schools.
Many Arab pupils at secondary school level could not even read an Arabic newspaper, he said, and learnt western rather than UAE history and culture.
He said some teachers were disrespectful to the country's customs.
"Most of teachers in private schools do respect customs but a large number of them do not respect the culture, our dress, or traditions," Mr Al Shamsi said.
"Many do not wear respectful clothes and I see this with my eyes. I take my children to school every day and see this myself."
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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