DUBAI, 30 July 2007 — Following a meeting between Dubai police and the Dubai Educational Zone five years ago discussing the rising number of truanting students and a growing problem of delinquents in the city, Dubai police launched a highly successful program that has caused truancy to go down by 75 percent and improve educational performance by 50 percent.
Behind the program is Dr. Mohamed Murad, director of the Decision Making Support Center at Dubai police. Speaking about the program, Dr. Murad said that they looked into the reasons why truancy levels were increasing.
“We found out that a lot of the so-called troublemakers were not happy in school because of many reasons. Some of them had problems at home, or were facing peer pressure while others had special needs, such as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), learning difficulties and hyperactivity,” he said, adding that the students could not fit in at school, became bored and so ended up hating school and running away.
Dr. Murad said that the findings helped the Decision Making Support Center come up with a comprehensive training program focusing on physical activities and character development.
“We have a set of values and characteristics that we instill in students. They are self-discipline, respect, confidence, honor, values, courtesy and concentration. In short, our training is preparing today’s teenagers to be tomorrow’s leader,” he said, adding that truancy has gone down by 75 percent and educational performance has improved by up to 50 percent in schools that have taken part in the program.
The training program is open to all public school students in Dubai. Around 30 schools have so far taken part in the program benefiting 1,363 female students and 1,326 male students.
Students undergo military training in learning how to shoot, salute, parade and other aspects of military life. They also learn martial arts, firefighting techniques, sports and first aid, and participate in workshops on different subjects that focus on character building. Anger management, leadership skills, time management, personal integrity and problem solving amongst others are courses that help build their characters.
According to Dr. Murad, students love the training and are very enthusiastic about it. “What we have noticed is that the students, be they girls or boys, have flourished because of the training. Teachers and their parents have noticed that the teenagers’ sense of responsibility, self-control, pride and self-esteem have improved dramatically,” he said.
He added that Dubai police are keen to foster a strong relationship with future generations. “Dubai police have always had a different approach to solving problems. What we have done with security training is to find alternatives for these kids thus stopping them from becoming delinquents,” he said.
