Timeframe: Back to school in Sharjah

Taken by Horst Faas, when the acclaimed war photographer was on a tour of the country around the time of unification, it shows primary school pupils at the Trucial Oman Scouts headquarters in Sharjah

A primary school class at headquarters camp of the Trucial Oman Scouts in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates in November 1971. Education is the prime endeavor of all Trucial States. Teachers are brought in from Egypt, Iran, and from among Palestinians.  (AP Photo/Horst Faas)
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The teachers are back, the roads are busier and the pupils are (mostly) excited.

Education has always been at the centre of the country's development, as this photograph from November,
1971, shows.

Taken by Horst Faas, when the acclaimed war photographer was on a tour of the country around the time of unification, it shows primary school pupils at the Trucial Oman Scouts headquarters in Sharjah. 

At the time, teachers were mainly recruited from other Arab countries.

The late President and Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed, placed great emphasis on the power of education to modernise the newly formed UAE.

By 1973, the number of pupils in Abu Dhabi had increased to 15,000, up from only 800 just five years previously. 

How times have changed.

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