Dubai pupils set up contact tracing site to beat coronavirus bullying
School pupils in Dubai whose peers were teased for catching the coronavirus set up a website to help with contact tracing while protecting sick children from potential scrutiny.
The website, called Wasama, anonymously notifies people if they have been in contact with someone who has the coronavirus.
The user enters their name, email address and a copy of their positive result and submits the names and numbers of people they have been in contact with.
Those people are contacted and told to isolate for 10 days. The website does not name who they were exposed to.
Quddus Pativada, 17, a pupil at Repton School Dubai, and Deepak Tahiliani, a Year 13 pupil at Jumeirah College, set up the site after friends faced social stigma because they caught the virus or had to isolate.
“When schools opened, pupils who tested positive did not want to tell others. There was social anxiety and cases of bullying,” Quddus said.
Several private schools in Dubai temporarily closed last month after case numbers among pupils increased.
Quddus said fear of teasing or social isolation led some pupils to hide the fact that they had the coronavirus, which in turn endangered others.
“One of our friends tested positive and he was too shy to tell others because he did not want to be the reason that others had to isolate,” he said.
“I know of at least three other cases where pupils faced a social backlash.”
Deepak said some of his friends who contracted the virus were bullied online.
“People were messaging them on social media and berating them for testing positive for Covid-19 when it wasn’t their fault at all,” he said.
He said these responses only added to concerns for pupils, who were already worried about being sick, having to isolate and potentially spreading the virus to their families.
Hale Education, a consultancy in Dubai, helped Deepak and Quddus to develop the idea and launch wasama. The website has since been used across the UAE, and by school pupils in India, Oman and the US.
A 17-year-old Italian pupil said he was surprised by the poor treatment from his peers after he contracted the coronavirus in the first week of the year.
“Many people treated me differently. They asked me If I was contagious and stayed away from me,” said the pupil, who asked for anonymity for fear of further scrutiny.
“I could see people watching me and that messed with my head. I thought this would go on for ever.”
He said schools needed to educate people about the coronavirus and allow people to talk about their experiences and how to get through the situation.
Schools are working to enforce safety measures and protocols to prevent the spread of the virus.
Fiona Cottam, principal at Hartland International School in Dubai, said there was a stigma surrounding the coronavirus and misinformation made matters worse.
“Everybody is afraid of falling ill, and young people have seen family members affected,” she said.
Ms Cottam said she knew of a pupil at her school who faced unpleasant behaviour after contracting the virus but that the school generally had not reported many cases.