Tighter checks on teachers create a safer environment

▶ Vetting those who work with children is complex, but child safety must be paramount

The announcement that all teachers applying for jobs in Dubai must supply authorities with good conduct certificates from all the countries in which they worked in the past five years is a welcome extension of the checks already in place. Until now, teachers coming to work in UAE schools for the first time have had to provide certificates issued by police in the country they have most recently departed. This is of limited value when dealing with highly mobile, international employees. Now Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority is demanding deeper background information.

In February, the UAE’s Ministry of Labour introduced regulation calling on anyone coming to work in the UAE in any role to provide a certificate issued by police in their home nation. That rule was suspended in April after embassies complained of being flooded with requests. Hiring an engineer is one thing. Employing someone who will be in daily contact with children is quite another, and it is absolutely right that this line is now being drawn in schools. While the new requirement will involve additional paperwork for schools and teachers, educators will be the first to agree that the safety of children must be paramount. Countries with a transient population, where schools rely on teachers from a wide range of nations, face particular challenges when it comes to shielding children from sex offenders. This issue has been thrown into sharp focus twice in the past year. In February, an American teacher at a Dubai school was arrested in the US on child sex charges when he flew home to meet a minor he had groomed online. And last year, a British-German teacher at a private school in Al Ain was jailed in Abu Dhabi for downloading child pornography on the internet.

Vetting people who want to work with children can never be foolproof as only those who have been caught offending will have been barred from teaching or have a criminal record and some, inevitably, will slip through even the tightest of nets. But the application of stringent, standardised measures will do much to discourage potential criminals and reassure parents that everything possible is being done to protect their children.