As UAE kids prepare to return to the classroom, experts offer tips to tackle the back-to-school journey

As UAE kids prepare to return to the classroom, experts offer tips to tackle the back-to-school journey

There's a lot more to it than new stationery and uniforms

By Asha Iyer Kumar Published: Thu 24 Aug 2023, 7:33 PM

Back in the place where I come from, the end of summer is marked by the pitter-patter of rain. Here, in the desert skyscape, it is the Suhail star that signals the tapering of summer rigours. To me, as a child back then, there were only two things that made summers cool — luscious mangoes and a long break from school.

That part of the canvas hasn’t changed with time and place, but what has changed is the way we now perceive the exercise of our children going back to school after summer. It is no longer a quiet closing of doors on a laid-back period and stepping into an academic setting. It has now acquired grander aspects, chiefly fuelled by marketing shindigs and a buying frenzy — uniforms, stationery, books and a host of other paraphernalia that complements school life today.

Sarah Cann with son, Arlo

But beneath the carnival atmosphere that we see in shopping centres in the days leading up to school reopening, there is a vault of emotions that is not frequently opened up for scrutiny. Schools, acutely aware