Buraimi students victims of Al Ain-Oman border issue

Al Ain - Students in Buraimi unable to attend school in Al Ain after border crossing permits discontinued.

Getting to school after summer vacations has become an impossible task for more than 500 students living in Al Buraimi area of Oman near the Al Ain-Oman border.
According to some parents, the problem started after student border crossing permits issued by the UAE authorities were discontinued from
September. Earlier, students living in Al Buraimi governerate of Oman were allowed to issue a three-month student border crossing pass which allowed them to commute daily between Oman and UAE for education purposes.
The problem has gravely affected expat students who depended on Indian curriculum schools in Al Ain to complete their schooling.
Without the border crossing permits, the students no longer have access to senior school - leaving them with no option but to stay at home till the issue is resolved.
Speaking with Khaleej Times, Raziya Aslam, a parent said: "Our children haven't gone to school after their summer vacation. Maybe the new rules are enforced as part of security measures but the problem is that our children have no schools to go to - that too in the middle of their academic year."
The only Indian curriculum school in Al Buraimi offers classes till Grade 8 and students relied on the crossing permits to attend school with classes for senior students in Al Ain. Al Buraimi is preferred by low and middle-income expats or industrial workers.
Villas and houses in the Omani governerate are cheaper compared to rental options in the emirate of Al Ain. Roshini I, an Indian expat whose husband works in Al Buraimi counts herself as a casualty of the new rules.
She has been knocking on the doors of various UAE authorities but no one has been helpful so far.
"It might be a security issue and that's why the new rules do not allow us to cross. However, on humanitarian grounds, we request the UAE authorities to allow us to use the student border crossing permits till April 2016, which will mark the end of this academic year for Asian schools. It is impossible for us to go to any other school right now and my daughter will waste one year if the existing rules remain unchanged," said Roshini.
She says the issue mainly affects expat students in private schools as their academic year starts in April - unlike public schools which start their year in September after the new rules were announced.
Border crossing rules are revised regularly and the new changes have left parents in a lurch. Al Ain and Al Buraimi are approximately a two-hour car drive from both Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Some parents like Roshini, whose children have registered for board exams this year, have temporarily shifted to accommodations in Al Ain on 30 days' visit visa to send their children to school.
However, parents say it is a costly affair that most of them find it difficult to afford and not feasible.
Indian parents and community groups have sought help of their missions in Oman and Abu Dhabi to mediate with authorities to fix the problem.
Indian Ambassador to the UAE, T.P. Seetharam, told Khaleej Times that his counterpart in Oman, Indra Mani Pandey, had forwarded him a memorandum submitted by the parents. "We have forwarded it to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and requested the ministry to make some arrangement for the students to continue their commute and studies till the schools in Oman are upgraded to higher classes."
He said community members are working on upgrading the schools at the earliest. Khaleej Times could not get an immediate comment from the ministry.
sajila@khaleejtimes.com

• Oman