Abu Dhabi, February 13: Their fathers may raise camels and their brothers and husbands may race them, but the girls of Ruwais have bigger ambitions. They want to become teachers and managers, open businesses and raise families at the same time.
They are strong and determined, so they used to travel hundreds of kilometres daily to study at the nearest higher education institute — the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in Madinat Zayed.
In 2007, a new HCT campus opened in Ruwais, for the main purpose of cutting down the travel time for students. Three years on, 300 Emirati girls have joined the campus from Ruwais region and the neighbouring towns of Sila and Mirfa.
“We have, for example, 13 girls from Um Al Ashtan, a village of about five houses. Most of them are sisters,” said Phil Quirke, director of Ruwais and Madinat Zayed HCT campuses.
In fact, all students come from the surrounding villages and towns since Ruwais, an industrial town about 250 kilometres from the capital in the Abu Dhabi emirate’s western region, “belongs” to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
At present, ADNOC is building new homes, as there are only 16,000 houses here, while the need is for more than double. Just five of these houses were allocated to HCT personnel, and there are 85 staff and 34 teachers working on the campus.
“Some of them stay in hotels and others, like myself, drive daily to Abu Dhabi,” said Quirke.
Also just like their director, staff and teachers split their working time between Madinat Zayed and Ruwais.
“I do weekly about 2000 kilometres, but this is the only way of bringing education to Al Gharbia,” added Quirke.
So is it worth it? Well, if you talk to the students here, the answer is definitely “yes”.
“I study business and IT. This is my last year, but I would like to continue and obtain my bachelor’s degree, then open my own business. I’m thinking of a flower shop,” Fatima Matar Al Mansouri told Khaleej Times.
Shamah Ali Al Mansouri, also an IT and Business student about to obtain her diploma this summer, hopes to become a teacher in an elementary school.
“Studying IT would help me because there is a new system now to teach computers in schools, from basic skills to web designing,” said Shamah.
Many of the graduates, though, face a long time of unemployment, since jobs, especially for women, are few and far between in this region.
Just like Madinat Zayed, which opened in 2006, Ruwais HCT campus is packed with state-of-the-art equipment. Three of the classrooms here (and three in Madinat Zayed) are geared up as what the teachers call JDC or Joint Distance Classrooms.
This means that video cameras and microphones are installed in two separate classrooms, linked to each other, allowing students from one room to see and hear what is happening in another room. Two very large screens are fixed on the wall, which show what is going on in each classroom, while the writing board is computerised, acting like a Microsoft programme.
“If a teacher has one class here and three in Madinat Zayed, she or he will use the JDC, so there is no need to travel between Ruwais and Madinat Zayed,” pointed out Quirke.
But not everything is rosy. For the time being, the girls only have the option of studying business and IT.
“We would like more choices, like the colleges in Abu Dhabi or Al Ain,” said Salama Mohammed Al Dahak.
“We would like to be able to study health or science or engineering.”
“The girls of Mirfa, for example, are encouraged by their families to study chemical engineering,” added Mouza Mohammed Al Mansouri.
The girls of Mirfa, and anyone else who wishes so, will have the opportunity to study chemical engineering and engineering for higher diploma from this September. Class attendance is another problem. Salama is one of the many students married with children.
“Life is very traditional here. Most of us get married at 15 or 16,” she said.
“We are not allowed to bring the children to the college and we don’t like to leave them with housemaids. The best solution would be to have a nursery here, on the campus.”
According to Quirke, the colleges are already studying the matter, but it isn’t easy. “It takes three different government licences and a lot of safety requirements, which are not so easily obtainable,” he explained.
Family problems and engagements tend to be the main reason for missing classes and to help the girls cope, the campus has set up a student services department.
Samiha Hassan, who is the student services assistant, said, “My job is to help the students with transportation, since 95 per cent of them use buses, but I often end up giving advice about problems like class attendance.”
If raising a family and studying at the same time is not easy, living and teaching in Ruwais has its challenges too. The five teachers and their families who live here tell stories that remind of the pre-oil era, but they do see it all with an adventurous eye, while waiting patiently for development to happen.
“Back in 1998 I used to work in Ras Al Khaimah and at that time, there were no shops or malls there, so we did all our shopping in Dubai or Sharjah,” remembered Dianne Bealer, business chair at HCT Ruwais.
“Well, this is worse than Ras Al Khaimah in 1998! We have to travel twice a week to Abu Dhabi for shopping, and also for other emergencies like medical treatments. There is nothing to do after working hours, so we basically stay in and watch TV or read a book,” said Bealer.
“I really wish there was at least a coffee shop!”
The good part, though, is that anytime there is a complaint about a problem such as plumbing, water supply or telephones, they are attended to and solved within a few hours, something that big city residents cannot dream of.
The working day comes to an end about 3.45pm for the girls, but not for the teachers.
Men’s campus
As of February this year, a men campus was established at HCT Ruwais. There are 27 students, all studying mechatronics, a combination of mechanics and electronics. Their classes start at 4.30pm.
It all began because of Abdulaziz Khadem Ahmed Al Muhairi.
Abdulaziz is a control supervisor at ADNOC. He and his colleagues one day showed up on the campus and said “we want to study too”.
Most of them are from Abu Dhabi and some others are from Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah.
“We work five days in Ruwais and in the weekend we go home to be with our families,” said Abdulaziz.
He had higher education in mind long before the campus here opened, studying in Abu Dhabi would have meant a big cut from the monthly income.
“So I spoke with some of my friends and other colleagues from different ADNOC companies and we all decided to ask the campus to help us out,” said Abdulaziz.
Since all of them work pretty much in the same field, mechatronics was the best choice of study.
“Of course it is difficult. I finished the ADNOC Technical Institute in 2003 and now, after seven years, to go back to college is challenging, especially in the beginning, but my experience in work will help me cope with the studies,” said Abdulaziz.
On top of all that, all 27 men have a long nine hours work with ADNOC in the day, before coming for four-hour classes with HCT in the evening.
“But I would like you to write that I thank for this opportunity President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research,” said Abdulaziz.
“Our further studies are for them and for our country and not just for us.”
Once they graduate, Abdulaziz believes that he and his colleagues will be able to understand their work better and fill in positions that now have to be done by oversees workforce, which costs the government a lot.
–Agencies