Khaleej Times

DUBAI, July 9:  — Absence of health counsellors in schools has contributed to a rise in mental health problems in students and nearly 13 per cent of them considered attempting suicide during the past 12 months, reveals a study conducted by the UAE Ministry of Health for the Global School-Based Health Survey last year.

Talking to Khaleej Times, Dr Mariam Matroushi, Director Central School Health Department, MoH, said that there was a great need for counsellors in schools so that they can guide the children at every step. "In an initiative taken by MoH, school nurses were trained for clinical counselling of schoolchildren," explained Dr Mariam.

She said that the presence of counsellors was necessary so that students with mental and psycho-social problems could be filtered and treated at an impressionable age.

"The MoH started the programme in April in public schools and it was in this context that some nurses were trained," she noted.

Dr Mariam said that poor dietary behaviour, lack of physical activity and increasing mental health problems would be the challenges facing the health authorities in future. "If we can compare ourselves with other countries, we are still doing better," she said. New laws and policies would be implemented at a national level addressing the various concerns, she said.

Almost 35.2 per cent of schoolchildren in the UAE felt dejected almost every day for two weeks or more in a row to the extent that they stopped their usual activities. Even more worrisome was that a large percentage  (20.8 per cent) of the children were bullied on one or more days during the past 30 days during the survey that was conducted during a month-long period in mid 2005.

According to the survey, 9.8 per cent of schoolchildren also made plans about how they would attempt suicide during the past 12 months.

Almost 31.9 per cent of the students had been physically attacked one or more times during the past 12 months and 30.7 per cent of them were seriously injured two or more times.

Biggest Guggenheim museum to be built in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI - The New York-based Guggenheim Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding on Saturday to build its largest art museum on an island in the United Arab Emirates, vowing that exhibits will respect Muslim traditions.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (GAD) will rise on a Gulf island off the UAE capital and will be designed by renowned US architect Frank Gehry who designed the Guggenheim museum in the Spanish city of Bilbao, the foundation’s director Thomas Krens told reporters at the signing ceremony.

With an area of 30,000 square meters (322,800 square feet), the new museum of modern art on Saadiyat island will be larger than the existing Guggenheims in New York, Berlin, Bilbao, Las Vegas and the Italian city of Venice, Krens added.

Construction is expected to last five years. The eventual price tag will depend on Gehry’s design.

“We believe that the Middle East is one of the world’s most important emerging regions in terms of contemporary culture,” Krens said before inking the memorandum of understanding with the head of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoun Al Nahayan.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahayan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, one of seven emirates that make up the UAE, attended the signing ceremony.

The museum will be built in the cultural district of Saadiyat island -- which translates from Arabic as island of happiness.

The district will also be home to a national museum, a classical art museum and a performing arts center, part of a three-phase project to turn the 27-square-kilometer island from an agricultural research site into a cultural hub by 2018.

The infrastructure for the project, which will also feature the development of residential zones, will cost more than a billion dollars.

The museum will acquire its own major collection of contemporary art and will also exhibit masterpieces from the Guggenheim Foundation’s global collections.

All works to go on display at the museum will “respect Abu Dhabi’s culture and national and Islamic heritage,” the foundation said in a statement.

“Our objective is not to be confrontational, but to be engaged in a cultural exchange,” said Krens when asked how the boldness of contemporary art can be reconciled with conservative Muslim values.

“There are things that we don’t do in New York because we feel that it is not appropriate to do them in this city,” he said.

A Guggenheim Foundation official, requesting anonymity, told AFP the museum would not display any nude figures or works with religious themes.

Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) will own the museum, while the Guggenheim Foundation will establish and manage its program.

Gehry, 77, said it was “still too early” to speak of the materials, which will be used in building the museum to make it fit the climate of the desert region.

“I know it’s hot. Being situated on the seafront means we might have sandstorms, which means no glass,” he told AFP.

“It is important for a building to be a good neighbor and not just a foreign comer from outer space,” Gehry said, noting that ceramics would be “interesting to use” in possible facades.

“Titanium was chosen in Bilbao on a cloudy day. It is not the case here. Here there is a lot of light, but that does not mean I will rule out titanium,” the American architect added.