NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL

Eleven firefighters injured in factory blaze

The fire was aggravated by highly flammable chemicals used in the paper factory. Courtesy of Abu Dhabi Police

ABU DHABI - SEP 01: Eleven firefighters were injured as they battled a factory blaze for almost 24 hours.

The fire broke out at about 6pm yesterday at Abu Dhabi National Paper Mill in the industrial area of Musaffah, before spreading to a nearby carpet factory, according to a statement from Abu Dhabi police.

The blaze took hold quickly and was aggravated by the highly flammable chemicals used in the paper factory, which was slammed by officials for its poor storage and safety records.

Sixty water tankers and thirty trailers of sand were needed to temper the flames, with extra fire lorries brought in from Al Ain and Dubai. Water was still being pumped out across the wreckage this afternoon as acrid smoke hung in the air and roads around the site remained cordoned off.

Eleven firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation after rescuers worked through the night to control the inferno and prevent it from spreading to surrounding buildings. Firefighters were on the scene within five minutes, the police said.

Abu Dhabi Municipality turned off six power stations in the vicinity of the fire as a precaution.

Most of those firefighters injured were treated by medics at the scene, though a few were rushed to hospital, the police said.

Although the direct cause of the blaze is not yet known, the plant was accused of “obvious neglect” in its storage and safety procedures, including the practice of keeping highly flammable liquids near direct sources of heat.

The paper factory was guilty of “clear negligence in the storage methods and procedures for public safety,” Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Minister of Interior, who led the overnight operation, said in the statement.

Two written warnings had been sent to the paper factory, according to Dr Jaber al Jaberi, a director at the Environment Authority. The warnings followed inspections that found “many flaws” in the company’s safety procedures including a lack of emergency plans, inappropriate storage methods, and a lack of correct labelling on stored materials.

Changes that were recommended to the Abu Dhabi Paper mill had not been followed, and the company’s history indicates that negligence was the main cause of the fire, al Jaberi said.

Mr Jaberi called for a strengthening of unified safety measures for all industrial building in order to avoid such incidents happening in the future.

Forensic samples have been taken from the site and a detailed report will be compiled in due course, the police statement said.

School curriculum to be standardised across UAE

ABU DHABI - SEP. 01: The UAE’s first set of national curriculum standards will be created as part of a major education reform initiative announced by Dr Hanif Hassan, the Minister of Education, today.

The new curriculum standards are being implemented in response to perceived failures in public schools across the country.

The curriculum standards were developed by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) in 2006 and have been gradually introduced in Abu Dhabi’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) and model schools over the past three years.

According to Dr Richard Siler, in the curriculum department at the Adec, the standards mark a major departure from the Ministry’s curriculum, which relies on rote memorisation.

Alarmed by the poor progress of their children, parents are increasingly switching to private schools. On the Minister’s figures, more than 40 per cent of Emirati parents have abandoned public schools for the private sector.

The public school system has also been criticised for not adequately preparing children for university studies. While Arabic is the primary language of instruction in public schools, classes at federal universities are taught in English, and many students must take a one-year foundation course in English before enrolling at university.

An estimated one-third of the higher education budget goes toward such courses each year.

One of the main goals of the new curriculum standards is to focus on teaching children to be active rather than passive learners. Ministry officials expect that this transition will take several years.

The Ministry plans to spend the next year creating resources tailored to the curriculum.

It will then embark on a massive teacher training programme aimed at introducing the new standards to public school teachers.

A new set of examinations tailored to the new curriculum will then be rolled out.
“Our plan is to implement assessments as we bring the standards up to the level that we want them to be,” said Dr Vincent Ferrandino, educational consultant in the office of policy and planning at the Ministry of Education. “I would say in the next couple of years we will start to see national assessments in place.”

In addition to the curriculum announcement, Dr Hassan outlined a number of new reforms that the Ministry will be focusing on in the next year. English will be gradually introduced in kindergartens across the country.

“English, nowadays, is a very important component of any development process,” said Dr Hassan. “The project also bridges the gap between kindergartens and the first education cycle by preparing the children to join the first grade at
schools.”

A new Arabic language curriculum will also be introduced in public schools in first and second grade. Like the ADEC curriculum, the new Arabic curriculum is standards based and aims to make the student an active learner in the classroom.