with other colleagues, day and night, to ensure the safety and well-being of every one of our citizens. Governments, including regions within the same country, all had different practices and policies to save lives, to stop the spread, to prevent the failure of their healthcare systems, to “flatten the curve.” Authorities all over the world were, and are, quickly learning from one another about how to deal with this new, unknown emergency. At the beginning of the crisis, Ireland announced that its international students could leave, while the UK did not, and their universities remained open. Now, we hear the question many times: What should I do? Should I wait for further directions? Or should I take my own decisions? Officially, we take the decision to recommend that Qatari students should go back to Doha, regardless of the universities’ position. We have complete faith in the British and Irish authorities. But being at home with their families during such unsafe, challenging and uncertain global times for our younger citizens is surely the right course of action. From my professional experience at the Office of the Cultural Attach é , when any student has had the misfortune of experiencing an emergency abroad, nothing can compare to the level of support they receive frombeing in physical proximity to his or her family. But even with this decision in place, we also determine that it is best to empower the students themselves, as well as their families, to make the decision they feel is right for them. We ensure that whatever the decision, it will not have any impact on their government-funded scholarships. Our kind state has shown the care it gives towards its citizens by bearing the responsibility for students’ scholarships during this pandemic, even if this decision might involve additional costs. After all, the people are the state’s most valuable asset. Still we hear the questions: Should I stay? Should I go? Should I stay?
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