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Divorced mother gets child custody

ABU DHABI — A divorced woman has won custody of her child on the orders of the Federal Supreme Court which, however, granted the father the joint rights to bring up the toddler.

A UAE national, identified as Mohammed Mahmoud, had filed a lawsuit against his former wife Moza Saeed at the Abu Dhabi Shariah Court demanding that her right to the custody of their child be revoked since she is living in Abu Dhabi and the toddler is in Khorfakkan. Such a status quo, claimed the father, does not allow her to look after the child since she had insisted on residing in Abu Dhabi. Moreover, he has already arranged an accommodation in Khorfakkan as per the Islamic Shariah law.

The Court of First Instance had earlier ruled that the mother’s right to the custody of the child be revoked. The ruling was later upheld by the Appeal Court. As a result, the mother moved to Sharjah where she lodged a suit at the Shariah Court demanding that the child be entrusted to her custody since she had come to live close to Khorfakkan, a situation which would also allow the father to care for him. However, the court rejected the claim.

The mother later lodged an appeal at the Sharjah Shariah Court of Appeal, which ruled that the child be returned to his mother’s custody since she had moved to reside in the vicinity of the father’s house in Sharjah.

But the father contested the ruling claiming it violates Shariah norms as prescribed by the Imam Malik school of Islamic thought, which stipulates that the mother’s custody should be revoked if she declined to move to the place where the father lives. However, since the court, according to the father’s claim, has swerved from such an Islamic Shariah rule, its verdict should be overruled.

The Federal Supreme Court said the Court of Appeal, in its verdict, had followed Abu Hanifa’s school which is in line with that of Malik, which both provide the most appropriate solutions. It added that the Court of Appeal’s move was in conformity with the law of civil proceedings.

The court further observed that Abu Hainfa’s school “states that a divorcee has no right to move with her child from one place to another unless the mother and father live in close vicinity of each other so that such a situation allows the latter to visit his child and go back the same day.

The Supreme Court went on to say that if the judge believed that the distance between the custodian’s house and that of the father does not hinder the latter from looking after the child, the custody of the mother shall not be dropped even considering that adequate conditions for raising the child under the care of his father are available.

The Federal Supreme Court rejected the appeal and upheld the ruling that the child be brought back to the mother’s custody with the father also having the right to raise him.

Private school found teaching Jewish fest

By a staff reporter

DUBAI — Private schools across the country are witnessing a state of chaos as complaints regarding violations and irregularities committed by them have flooded the Ministry of Education offices. However, no positive and decisive actions are being taken to safeguard the interests of the students.

Al Ittehad Private School is alleged to have been promoting and encouraging private tuitions and homework as well as distributing an English textbook (Drills) for class VI containing a chapter that promotes Judaism. The book titled ‘Hanukkah’, which means in Hebrew the festival of lights, contains terms that glorify Judaism and hold it to high esteem compared with other religions.

The Foreign Schools Department had also found United International School teaching the Philippines Curriculum while imparting lessons on Islam with wrong information to children.

The ministry had withdrawn the book as a preliminary measure pending other actions, which will be taken against the school.

Official sources at the ministry said that there were 18 curriculums taught in private schools in the country. Such curriculums are in different languages which are French, Urdu, English and Arabic. Inspectors are available for all these curricula.

And within this context the ministry had held private schools responsible for surveillance, revision and verification of text books.

The ministry had justified its decision on the ground that there was a lack of experts to revise the books and a large number of textbooks had piled up in the ministry’s warehouses and stores for a long time.

The Curriculums and Education Section at the ministry has sent a letter to the bodies concerned saying that it apologises for not being able to receive any textbook for revision and verification with effect from September 11 and until further notice.

The department said it would not be able to carry out the revision work until it finishes revising the books already available.

Dr Obaid bin Ali bin Butti Al Mohiri had sent a similar letter on June 18 this year.

When no action was taken, he sent another letter but the Ministry of Education was content with an undertaking given by the school’s principal as per the provision of the Federal Law No. 28 of 1999 which makes it mandatory on private educational institutions to respect the Islamic and Arab principles and values, norms and prevailing customs and traditions. The law also calls on private schools to respect the identity and national sovereignty of the UAE.

Al Ittehad Private School was also reported to have been imposing fees for doing homework and promoting coaching classes after the close of school hours.