Best Safety Tips for Schools

Every day, hundreds of children start from their homes to get to school. Safety and security of the students and staff is one of the paramount concerns of the school management. Leading schools across UAE follow the best practices to ensure the safety of everyone in their premises. Here are some of the best safety tips for schools which want to upgrade the sense of security their premises offer:

1.      A comprehensive security system must be in place in the school premises. Guards, perimeter alarms, fire and smoke alarms, CCTV surveillance for common areas are some of the basic essentials schools must make part of the infrastructure. These will not only ensure the safety of all people inside the school but also secure the physical premises of the school.

2.      Hire an authorized security agency to man the premises of your school. Check for references and also get police verification done of all the security personnel.

3.      Issuing student and staff identity cards will make it easier for the security staff to identify individuals who belong to the school and separate out those who are not regulars. Visitors can be provided with special passes for limited time. Some of the top schools in UAE are also making use of electronic key cards to limit access.

4.      A systematic and meticulous record of emergency contact details must be kept in the school for each individual, be it a student or a staff member.

5.      For UAE schools which offer bus pick-and-drop facilities, parents, students, the bus staff and the management must be made aware of the routes and stoppages. Contact numbers must be provided.

6.      At strategic places in the school, emergency contact numbers of such authorities like the fire safety department, ambulance, hospital, police, etc. must be mentioned for all to see and make use of in case of untoward incidents.

7.      Mock fire drills must be conducted periodically to teach students how to deal with unexpected emergencies. These can be conducted either in coordination with local civic agencies or by the management singly.

The Global Indian International School is one of the leading schools in Abu Dhabi which makes available world class infrastructure and a dedicated staff to ensure that students can learn and grow in a happy and positive environment. At GIIS, the safety, security and all round development of each child is at the forefront of all endeavours. Enrol your children at GIIS Abu Dhabi for a superlative schooling experience.

The Effect of Mobile on Teenagers

Mobile and communication devices have played a vital role in connecting individuals with family and friends. More importantly, it has allowed parents to ensure that their children are safe when they are away from home.

In today's world, mobile phones are mainly used for internet connectivity than making calls. The ability to easily access information for further understanding and research is considered as one of the strongest advantages of in-class usage of mobile phones. The use of mobile phones in academics will enable students to collaborate assignments and tasks, providing them with a broader prospect of the topic in discussion. Increasing number of students are now using text based communication tools to interact with teacher's and student's for information on subject or academic matter. This allows students to have a direct one-to-one communication with instructors or peer's, enabling them to get instant feedback or answers on their doubts and queries.  Students also use online learning tools such as YouTube or apps to enhance their learning experience. This has proved to be effective in improving students academic results.

Despite the benefits associated with the use of mobile phones, they are many disadvantages especially on students. Distractions among students caused by mobile phones is a major concern for parents and teachers. It has been observed that students with access to a mobile phone would be easily distracted by notifications. Gaining notifications such as likes or texts give a sense of reward in the minds of the children. This encourages them to post more content on social media. However, it also increases the number of times they check their phones for notification. Once developed into a habit, this can negatively impact students, as distractions from notifications will leave them with little time to re-gain focus on academics. Ultimately, the student's concentration level will be adversely affected, thus having a negative impact in the child's academic performances.

The role of schools and parents, is to ensure that there is a good balance and restriction on the child's usage of mobile phones. Parents should ensure that the child gets to use their phone's only after they finish their studies. Academic research or further learning tools must not be used as an excuse to allow the child to use their phones during study time. Doing so, may tempt the student to check their social network accounts for notifications reducing the effective time they spend on actual learning. The student must be allowed to use mobile learning tools during the last half hour of home studies. As an alternate, parents can also switch off home Wi-Fi during the allotted study hours. 

Global Indian International school in Abu Dhabi, ensures that students get enough opportunities for collaborative and online learning through resources within the school. This eliminates the need to bring phones to school, thus reducing the possibility of any distraction caused by mobile phones. Teacher's in the school are regularly trained on best student-mobile and internet practices ensuring that students and parents are well versed with balancing the use of mobile phones and academics.