A joint workshop between the Abu Dhabi Police GHQ and the Abu Dhabi Educational Council (ADEC) discussed the “SARAH” program for solving children’s behavioral problems at schools. The program aims to enhance the environment for students by making it safer through the involvement of the Community Police in the educational process. The program was recently held in the Western Region.
The workshop, which was organized by the Department of Community Police at the Abu Dhabi Police, in cooperation with ADEC, discussed the results of the workshop, which are in line with the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 aiming to make Abu Dhabi schools safer.
Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Director-General, ADEC, stressed on the need to provide education to all society members, as it represents the essence of life. “A healthy environment achieves the positive goals of the educational process. The cooperation between the Community Police and the educational institutions, led by ADEC, aims to deal with some negative behaviors of children in schools, which represent significant challenges to the people responsible for this initiative,” he said.
Dr. Al Khaili said: “We will publicize this experiment to all Abu Dhabi Emirate’s schools after the success that it has achieved in some schools in the Western Region.” He also hailed the cooperation between the Community Police and ADEC, for their regular visits to those schools to detect any drawbacks and manage them.
Lt. Colonel Mubarak bin Muhairom, Head of Department of Community Police, called on police and educational institutions and other education-related bodies, to join efforts to make the schools of Abu Dhabi safer.
Musallam Al Amri, Regional Director of the Western Educational Office, spoke on ADEC’s important role in this partnership. “This initiative came at the right time to face the challenges related to certain students’ behaviors. We had the idea to cooperate with the Abu Dhabi Police, in order to work together to serve society and school students at the same time,” he said.
“The SARAH Program that has been implemented in two schools in the Western Region –Al Ghiathi and Bida Zayed- has had impressive and positive outcomes,” Al Amri added.
Captain Tariq Jum’a Al Junaibi, Manager of Initiatives Branch at the Department of Community Police, said, “The cooperation and coordination between the police and ADEC harmonize with the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 that has both, wide dimensions and accurate details. The success of the initiative is the result of the hard work carried out by both sides through field visits to schools to detect and analyze behavioral problems of the students. The initiative also aims to set up work mechanisms between teachers and students, in order to create an interactive relationship that leads into improving the subculture of these schools, integrating modern technology to enhance student performance, in addition to integrating these schools to create a new mechanism for communication and information exchange.”
Experts from both sides reviewed the experiment that was implemented in the two schools (Al Ghiathi and Bida Zayed). Dr. Gloria Lee Cock from the Community Police said: “Detecting environmental problems in schools directly contributes to the establishment of strategic plans to reduce negative behavior rates. This initiative will help to reduce rates of students running away from schools, as it will enhance the role of teachers in solving issues. It will consequently raise satisfaction levels among parents, teachers, and students.”
Prof. Ian Cardwell for the Community Police reviewed some successful international experiences in