Dubai students offered chance to be UN ambassadors

Dubai students will be able to reenact the role of ambassadors at the first UN simulation conference in the Middle East, to be held early next year.

The five-day programme, which was launched by Montessori Model United Nation (MMUN) in partnership with Gems schools, will be open to registration for students aged 9-15 and will take place at the Gems World Academy from February 7-11, 2014.

“The topic that will be discussed at the first MMUN conference in the Middle East is water,” said Almas Menon, UAE representative of MMUN. “We choose this topic because it is pertaining to the region and we wanted to start with a light topic before building up to more serious and complicated world issues.”

MMUN was launched in 2006 to get 9- to 15-year-old students from around the world to formulate, present, debate and revise positions on current issues that are affecting people of the world by assuming the perspectives of a citizen of their selected countries.

The first two days of the programme will be about leadership, the second two days will be for teacher training and the fifth day will be the simulation, where students will discuss and debate the topic further.

“We will bring trainers from New York to Dubai to help in the training of the 100 teachers and 400 students who will take part in the programme,” Menon said. “The reason why we are training teachers is because they will be starting UN clubs at their school.”

Menon encouraged students to join the first conference, which is considered to be a preparatory one, because it will open doors for them to join international UN conferences and broaden their way of thinking.

“Young people gain from the study and discussion of global issues and also develop invaluable skills, with long-term profits in the areas of conflict resolution and cooperation,” Menon said. “They step into the shoes of ambassadors from the UN to understand the importance of resolving problems that affect countries all over the world.”

Jason McBride, Head and CEO of Gems World Academy, Dubai, said that the IB school wanted to take part in the programme to develop students’ way of thinking.

“Our mission is to support students to acquire the knowledge, skills and character to take action and create a better, more peaceful world,” he said. “The MMUN is an ideal platform to enable students to pursue that mission by dealing with complex issues and global challenges.”

MMUN is currently in discussions with various UAE educational authorities about holding the programme in other Emirates.