South African teachers remain in UAE despite Middle East conflict
South African teacher, known as 'W_y_n_n,' shares insights on the impact of conflict on education in the UAE.
Image: screenshot
South Africans working in the UAE's teaching and hospitality sectors are voicing their reasons for remaining in the region despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
This follows a plea from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) for all South African citizens to evacuate.
Earlier, DIRCO noted a significant increase in registrations by South Africans on the Travel Smart system, with over 6,400 South African citizens in the Middle East registering their presence as of March 4.
An ex-South African principal, whose teaching in Dubai has taken to his social media account, detailed the impact the conflict has had on education, explaining that assessments had to be done virtually. Calling himself 'W_y_n_n teacher' on TikTok, he said: “The conflict in the UAE has significantly impacted teachers, yet I know it has negatively impacted everybody, but it has impacted teachers in the UAE in ways no one outside of the education sector will understand.
Makida Kumalo discusses the challenges of running an Airbnb business in the UAE amid ongoing regional turmoil.
Image: screenshot
“We have lost two weeks of the second term, and I know one week was online, then the school holidays were moved one week earlier, but we lost face-to-face time with students because of that loss of time; there were certain things that could not happen online.
“Normally, by the end of the term, all our marking is done, so a lot of us are going to spend time during our holiday marking and grading assessments and tasks. The week that we go back to school is going to be chaotic because we may need to administer tasks, submit, mark tasks, and get reports sorted out in a very short space of time."
Another South African, Makida Kumalo, shared why she was staying, explaining that it had negatively impacted her Airbnb business but that she would not give up: "I am here to expand my Airbnb business but things are not going as planned, I had to apply for jobs, I do not know how the next few days would look like and going home, everyone is saying I am being stubborn but I worked really hard to get here and I know my safety is very important, I am safe.
“If I head back to SA, if if I don’t, if I don’t take the right measures and be cautious at all times, I know what it is like to not have a job, especially in South Africa, unemployment, in our country it is one of the worse pandemics that we go through, I decided to change that for myself, and my goal is for my company to grow and that is why I came here."