Category: News

Pupils at an Abu Dhabi school are being introduced to a variety of non-traditional sports such as rock climbing to a game of gutter board, or the Swiss game of Tchoukball in a bid to reduce childhood obesity.

Repton Abu Dhabi found that during the pandemic, there was a 27 per cent decline in boys participating in physical activities, and girls’ activity decreased by 45 per cent.

Principal Steve Lupton said that obesity, and particularly childhood obesity, was the epidemic left behind by the pandemic.

“Once we came back after school closures we definitely saw a bit of a gap in stamina and endurance,” said Mr Lupton.

“There was a bit of a gap in swimming endurance and it has taken time to build that up.”

The school tracked pupils’ fitness levels through a beep test.

“Pre-Covid our average score for 12 to 15-year-olds was 9.5 which is considered excellent. Immediately post-Covid, our average scores had dropped more than 2 levels, with an average score of 7.3,” he said.

“With sport and physical activity back in operation we are now seeing our pupils’ fitness levels returning to pre-Covid levels.”

Some adolescent pupils at the school did not return to in-person classes for nearly a year and at different points, the school’s pool was closed for more than 12 months.

Mr Lupton said it was a challenge even before the pandemic to engage pupils who did not have a passion for sport and keep them physically active.

One answer to that was introducing unconventional sports.

“It’s about physical activity in disguise. It is getting children to stay active and getting their heart rates up and moving, but finding enjoyment,” he said.

The school timetabled PE and swimming lessons for all pupils, appointed a full-time swimming coach, and organised running, cycling events and cross-country championships.

It has built a rock-climbing wall in its junior campus and follows the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge’s policy to screen pupils and record their body mass index.

Programme to encourage healthy eating

“We have a whole package of increased opportunities for physical activity, but we are also focusing on education around what we’re eating and how we’re trying to maintain that sustainably,” Mr Lupton said.

He said that when he walked around the school at lunchtimes he could see very unhealthy food in lunch boxes at times.

“I don’t want to be critical of parents, because I know as a parent how hard it is sometimes, but it’s obvious that there needs to be a shift in some sections towards healthier and sustainable eating patterns.”

The school plans to launch a paediatric nutrition programme in February targeted at pupils aged 3 to 18, parents and teachers.

Lauren Hughes, wellness co-ordinator at the school, said the six-week programme would teach families about macronutrients and work to retrain the palates of children so that they could learn to enjoy fruits and natural food, rather than fast food.

“It’s teaching children how to look after themselves and having conversations on what brings us joy about food.

“What has often happened in the past is that you can teach children as much as you like and think that you’re empowering them. And then they go home and their parents take them to McDonald’s. So it really has to be a whole family approach.”

One of the internet’s largest pirated e-book databases, which are also called “shadow libraries,” Z-Library offered more than 10 million e-books and 86 million articles at its peak, with a limited number of monthly downloads accessible to millions of users free of charge, and more available for a small fee. It was seized by the FBI after the shadow library fell under investigation by the US Trade Representative.

Though it’s beloved by students and book fanatics, the site isn’t popular among authors, whose work regularly gets uploaded to Z-Library without compensation.

Beloved by students, who seldom have the funds to dump on expensive textbooks or pricey academic journal subscriptions, ZLibrary eventually gained a devoted following on TikTok – much to the dismay of the Authors Guild, a writers’ trade group. The Guild blames digital piracy for an average decline of 42% in writers’ incomes over the last decade.

After the Guild wrote to the US Trade Representative earlier this month referencing TikTok in its plea to have ZLibrary classified as a “notorious market” for promoting piracy, the platform blocked the #ZLibrary hashtag.

Some 200 domains associated with ZLibrary were ordered blocked in France in September following a lawsuit by the National Publishing Union, and multiple Indian ISPs were previously ordered to block access following a complaint by the Taxmann publishing company.

According to Bleeping Computer, however, “little is known about the platform’s operators and commercial status,” meaning ZLibrary may simply switch domains and rise again.

Some of the domains have been redirected to Njalla, an anonymous hosting provider founded by the creator of the Pirate Bay, though it’s not clear how ZLibrary’s operators could have regained control of their domains following the seizure.

Harry Potter fans are facing some harsh realities on re-reading their favorite years later after their first release.

Despite the failures of the Fantastic Beasts series, Harry Potter fans are eager to see more screen installments. Whether this includes Newt Scamander and his friends or tells a whole new story established from J.K. Rowling’s books, they are far from done with tales of the wizarding world.

In the meantime, fans can satisfy their need by returning to the Harry Potter books, perhaps even for the first time since they finished Deathly Hallows when it was released in 2007. If they do, however, they should expect to find a new world between the pages, resulting from the changed perspective that time has created in them. From the problematic nature of elements like the enslavement of house-eves to the disappointing reminder that the movies can never quite add up, rereading Harry’s story is sure to come with several harsh realizations.

Harry, Ron, And Hermione Are So Young

Many long-time Harry Potter fans first read the books when they were about the same age as the characters. However, it can be a surprise for returning readers to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione from their adult perspectives.

It’s often easy for child audiences to accept the burdens placed on their favorite child heroes, but these dangerous events can be a little alarming for adults. Harry’s mistreatment, Hermione’s burdensome intelligence, and Ron’s constant fear of being overlooked are much more sympathetic to older readers.

The Adults In Harry Potter Are Terribly Irresponsible

Just like the children characters are far more tragic to newly adult audiences, the adults in Harry Potter, such as the parents and teachers, suddenly appear all the more clueless. They seem never to have any idea what their children are up to, and when they are needed, they brush the young characters away.

It’s no surprise that Harry and his friends rarely went to the adults for help. This might have felt normal when reading in the past, but as adults, it’s harder for readers to feel sympathy for these clueless characters.

House-Elves Are Extremely Problematic

From the time Dobby was introduced in Chamber of Secrets, he was easy to love. The movies cut out many of his subsequent appearances, but the books had much more to say about not only everyone’s favorite free elf but all house-elves of the wizarding world.

In Goblet of Fire, Harry, and co. meet dozens of house-elves in the kitchens, and they are first confronted with the information that most house-elves don’t want to be freed. While this was only charming detail when the book was released, years later, it seems to encourage some problematic topics.

The Harry Potter Movies Leave Out A Painful Amount

It is much easier to repeatedly binge the Harry Potter movies than reread the books, so even the most die-hard fans can start to forget just how much the movies leave out. This means that when they come back to the books, they can find themselves surprised again by some subtle details.

This is especially prevalent from Prisoner of Azkaban onward and becomes worse with each movie. In a sense, rereading the books can almost ruin the films since the reminder that the best or funniest book scenes in Harry Potter were cut just brings back all the disappointment.

Severus Snape Is Much Worse In The Books

Alan Rickman’s legendary portrayal of Severus Snape is not easy to forget. He fit the book description of the character to a tee, and even those who read Philosopher’s Stone before watching the film quickly adjusted their mental image to fit the actor.

However, Rickman’s Snape was much calmer and more pitiable than his book counterpart. This means that reading about Snape screaming and throwing a fit in rage like he does in the Prisoner of Azkaban book can feel jarring in comparison. He acts purely like a scorned child, which doesn’t fit with how audiences have come to know Snape.

Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority launched the second cycle of the Parent-friendly Label (PFL) programme that allows organisations in the country, the opportunity to be recognised for their commitment to a supportive work culture and policies for employees who are parents of children ages 0-8 years old.

The initiative aims to empower the early childhood sector and to provide the best opportunities for development and prosperity for all children.

“The UAE is steadily moving towards a more sustainable, growth-driven future in all walks of life and investing in early childhood care opportunities and enabling parents to contribute to building conscious and responsible generations that achieve harmony in line with the priorities of our wise leadership,” said Sheikh Theyab during the launch of the program in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

He emphasized that as a voluntary workplace award programme, the Parent-friendly Label, reflects the leadership’s keenness to achieve a balance between work, family and care for young children.

Achieving this balance provides a social tool with a major and vital role in providing a positive environment that is supportive for children and compassionate towards parents’ needs. The programme encourages and supports UAE-based organisations to work toward the goals of the UAE’s early childhood development sector and the country’s overall growth.

“The programme seeks to enhance the sense of social responsibility in organizations, and to contribute to the establishment of an innovative organisational culture that supports parents and enables them to set a general framework for the upbringing of their children in accordance with the best practices related to childcare,” said Sheikh Theyab.

“The success of the first cycle of the programme has inspired us to roll it out on a national scale to create policies and frameworks that support parents, enhance those parents’ role in providing comprehensive care for their children.”

The second cycle of the Parent-friendly Label programme will give all organisations across the country the opportunity to apply for the Label and it will also focus on the private education sector.

The criteria required to be met have been updated to be in line with the nature of the sector across the UAE.

How to participate in Parent-friendly Label

All organisations that adopt policies that support parents can apply to earn the Parent-friendly Label (PFL) in its new cycle. Applicants can either earn PFL (level 1), which challenges them to go above and beyond what the law requires OR PFL+ (level 2), which meets or exceeds global best practices. The Label is valid for two years, with an annual check-in after one year.

This year’s programme builds on the successes of the first cycle that was implemented at the level of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The Parent-friendly Label was designed in cooperation with and with active contributions from a variety of leading national organizations in the UAE and further refined based on suggestions received from participants in the first cycle.

The programme provides a set of standards that employers can apply within their internal culture and adopt to provide a supportive work environment for parents. The Parent-friendly Label criteria have been updated to reflect the most recent amendments to the UAE Labour Law.

All applications will be independently evaluated by an independent judging panel to ensure objectivity and transparency in the review and evaluation of applications.

Parent-friendly policies include support for working parents, an understanding of family needs, measures to welcome new parents, and increased maternity or paternity leaves and breastfeeding hours, along with other innovative programs encouraged by the Authority.

The first cycle of the programme resulted in more than 20,000 employees being engaged and more than 6,600 children being positively impacted.

The new Livall PikaBoost electric motor system is a Kickstarter project designed to clamp to a non-assisted bike’s seatpost, turning it into an electric bike in a claimed 30 seconds.

It has a self-locking mechanism and up to 250 watts of additional power via a roller that sits on the rear tyre.

The PikaBoost unit is claimed to weigh 3kg (6.6lb) and provide a range of up to 30km (18 miles) from a charge.