Dubai schools urged to put happiness first
KHDA chief inaugurates Happiness Hallway at The Indian High School
Dubai’s education chief has called upon schools to ensure pupils’ happiness before teaching them how to work hard for exams.
Dr Abdullah Al Karam, the Director General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), was speaking after the inauguration of a Happiness Hallway at The Indian High School in Dubai on Thursday. “We really want the children to be happy… to be happy… and to be happy… Exams and everything will come later on,” he said.
“We need to teach them how to be happy, not only how to work hard. Hard work will come subsequent to being happy and, [for] being happy, [one] does not have to wait till the end of the semester… [It] has to be every morning and every hour, every step in this hall way.”
Dr Al Karam said he was confident that parents would see the benefits of the KHDA strategy that envisions a happy and healthy environment in all Dubai schools. Congratulating the school for being the first one to set up a Happiness Hallway meant to receive parents and visitors in a welcoming ambience, he expressed the hope that other schools would follow suit. “Having the drums… the quiet rooms, the trees and birds… having all these components are important,” he said.
Dr Ashok Kumar, CEO of The Indian High School, said: “The Happiness Hallway is created with the intention of creating a happy place for our parents, a cheerful environment which creates an aura of positivity, helping to develop productive relationships The Happiness Hallway is meant to receive parents and visitors in a welcoming ambience. It will also function as a single window for parents to seek clarifications and take up issues with various departments of the school. It will also offer a cheerful environment for developing and maintaining productive links between parents and the school management. with our parents. Happiness should be a way of life, something to be practised and inculcated in every step of the way.”
Hind Al Mualla, chief of Creativity, Happiness and Innovation at KHDA; parent representatives from the Focus Group, Happiness Ambassadors of the school, besides staff and members of the management attended the event, which was presided over by the school’s chairman Sunil Umrao Singh, founder chairman Maghanmal Pancholia, and ex-chairmen Vasu Shroff and Dr Ram Buxani.
Director General of KHDA