Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Mohammed Ibrahim, Staff Reporter

The Ministry of Education on Thursday decided to postpone the resumption of classroom learning for cycle 3 students, which is scheduled to start on Sunday, January 17, 2021, until further notice.

The ministry stressed the necessity for school management to notify parents not to bring their children to school on Sunday, as all students will continue distance learning until new instructions are issued in this connection.

The schools communicated with parents accordingly through emails and SMS.

STATEMENT OF UAE EMBASSY IN DHAKA: The UAE Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has said that the explosion that took place at its visa processing centre on Wednesday was due to a mechanical fault.

In a statement on Thursday, and in response to recent media reports circulating about an explosion, the embassy added that preliminary investigations of the incident indicate that mechanical problems caused the blast during routine maintenance of the centre’s air conditioning system.

The embassy said that it is working with local authorities in further investigations to determine the exact cause of the explosion.

‘INCRIMINATE HATE SPEECH’: The World Muslim Communities Council has urged religious institutions and organisations around the world to take the initiative and incriminate hate speech and incitement to violence amid the ongoing increased tendency to despise and ridicule religious beliefs.

In a press statement, the Council highlighted the Federal Decree Law No. 2 of 2015 issued by the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on Combating Discrimination and Hatred, which aims at protecting everyone in the UAE, and therefore bringing the concept of social security to a new level.

The statement against the backdrop of an emerging tendency to use religious scriptures, texts, beliefs, for pushing a larger percentage of youth towards fanaticism, and religion-inspired politics in a way reminiscent of the period before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. During that time, the statement added, hate speech prevailed to drape political goals in a religious rhetoric that produced a fanatic generation who were behind global drastic developments, such as September attacks, which have weighed heavily on the Islamic world.

The statement cited in this respect the mass mobilisation across social media platforms, urging parliaments around the world to work for issuing legislation outlawing fanaticism and extremism.