School's educators put their money where their belief is

SHARJAH // Nasra Saif continues with the day's lesson at Al Andulus School, despite the noise of drilling and hammering coming from outside her classroom.

The children are learning the Arabic phonetic letter 'waw', which is not unlike the English letter W.

Ms Saif points to a computer presentation and asks the girls to come to the front of the class and identify the images and words that use the letter.

"Who can come and circle 'waw' in this sentence?" the teacher asks.

Ghalia Maher, 6, reluctantly points out the right letter.

"Aiwa [yes]," Ms Saif applauds.

The pupils will have to tolerate the noise for a few more months before they can fully appreciate the modern environment their principal, Mariam Abdulla, is trying to create.

Ms Abdulla is sparing no effort to ensure the children have the best to enable them to follow the Madares Al Ghad (Mag) curriculum, which was introduced in 2007.

"This year I need to change all the classroom desks, replace the unsafe toilets and improve the play areas," she says.

But with the limited annual operational budget provided by the Government, such changes were not possible.

Ms Abdulla has already pitched in Dh10,000 from her own pocket for this: "It's fine. After all, it is my school."

The Mag curriculum, which focuses on bilingual education, uses technology and resources to enhance the learning experience.

But without support to implement the necessary changes, many principals say the programme will not improve performance.

At Al Andalus, however, teachers are determined to make the best use of what they have and are encouraged by the steady results.

Eman Salim, the Islamic-studies teacher, has decorated her classroom to look like a mosque.

"This way the children understand the lesson better," Ms Salim says.

Her personal expense for the fixtures, carpets, furniture and books for the room was Dh5,000.

"I know the children like studying Islamic here because it feels like a mosque," Ms Salim says.

Her colleague Najla Ibrahim, a Grade 3 teacher, says it is more fun teaching the children now.

"We take them to the garden, do puppet shows, presentations … it keeps them interested," Ms Ibrahim says.

Amna Abdul Razzaq, the supervisor of school facilities, says more needs to be done but what they had already achieved was yielding great results.

"If I compare, before there was no discipline in the school and it wasn't so neat either," Ms Abdul Razzaq says. "We weren't using the computer and teachers were not using internet resources like Google for lessons. The real results show in the pupils' performance."

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Private schools to face quality test

Afshan Ahmed

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DUBAI // Education officials say they will block the expansion of below-standard private schools in the emirate, despite a growing demand for places.

Close to the start of the 2011/2012 academic year there were more than 8,500 parents still in need of places in Dubai's private schools, according to the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). But the authority's director general said this week he would not be handing out operating licenses in large numbers to ease the problem.

"We are not looking at the quantity of schools that come up but how many quality seats are available in the emirate," said Dr Abdullah Al Karam, the director-general of the KHDA, who attended the inauguration of an Indian school on Monday.

"We will ask private education providers, do you have an existing school? How well do you run that school?"

He said schools that have not shown significant improvement have had their operations curtailed. "There are restrictions on these schools. We have not allowed them to expand."

Indian parents face increasing pressure to find spaces for their children. Hundreds face lottery-style draws for places later this month.

One parent, Valsrajan Valiyapurakkal, said he would have to send his family back home if he could not secure a seat for his daughter at an Indian school this year.

"It is looking impossible at the moment," he said. "My daughter is on a waiting list and it is worrying me."

He said there were 40 pupils competing for 16 vacancies in Grade 7 at the school he has applied to.

"My daughter has passed the entrance test but that really does not matter."

He said he could afford only a handful of schools in the emirate. "I will have to send them back if I cannot find a school in my budget that offers good education."

Despite the uncertainty, Mr Valiyapurakkal said he agreed with the KHDA's stance and would rather send his family back to India than sacrifice the quality of his daughter's education.

Four new schools are scheduled to open during this academic year, but only one of those is Indian.

Indian Academy, opening in April, will be joined by three other international schools - Dubai Women's High School, Formark Hall Prep and Uptown Mirdif will open in September.

Mohan Valrani, the chairman of the Indian International School, which was formally opened on Monday by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the president of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, said four further schools were planned.

"Our aim is to provide access to good quality education, which we believe is a fundamental right," said Mr Valrani.

"We are already in talks with the authority and plan to build one every two years."

The Indian High School, which is the parent campus of the Indian International School, currently educates 10,000 pupils from Grades 1 to 12. Its new campus can accommodate 3,000 at full capacity.

The parent campus received an Outstanding rating in a recent cycle of inspections by the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau, which gives them a clear path to expand.

Dr Al Karam said schools that had shown consistent progress in inspections would be supported and encouraged to expand.

"We will go all the way to assist school operators that have raised the quality of education. We will work with the landlords and in other areas to ensure they can build the school," he said.

Taaleem, which opened its first school here in 2005, will manage the new 2,000 capacity Uptown School in Mirdif this September.

Clive Pierrepont, the director of communications at Taaleem, warned that without supervision, the growing education sector risked attracting operators with little local knowledge and the wrong motives.

"It is right that the regulators carefully scrutinise the credentials and motives of operators looking to enter the market for many are making speculative forays," he said.

He added, however, that there was still room for newcomers. "There are providers who would enrich the educational provision, and provide further choice and healthy competition."

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Adec warns schools not to go overboard on fees

Afshan Ahmed

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A lack of seats in the capital's private schools is not enough reason to raise fees, the education authority says.

Youssef Al Sheryani, the executive director of private education and quality assurance at the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec), said schools would be penalised for increasing fees without Adec's approval.

Fee rises would be granted based on financial records, previous increases and development plans submitted.

All schools are governed by regulations set by the Government in 2008 to curb unreasonable increases at private schools.

Of the 181 schools, 61 applied for a fee rise for the 2011/2012 academic year, with 41 receiving approval.

The average increase in tuition approved by Adec was 6.9 per cent.

Mr Al Sheryani said some schools submitted increases of up to 208 per cent, which were rejected.

"Most of the financial data provided … was not accurate and this led to the rejection of the application or allowing very little increase," he said.

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Shortage of school places is not reason enough for school fee increases, Adec says.

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More villa schools to close in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain

Afshan Ahmed

ABU DHABI // Six more private villa schools in Abu Dhabi have been ordered to close, three in the capital and three in Al Ain, affecting about 3,250 children.

The schools will move their operations to three government buildings in Abu Dhabi, Baniyas and Al Ain from the beginning of the new academic year in September.

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The closures are part of a phased programme by Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) to shut down all schools operating in residential buildings by 2013, for health and safety reasons.

Last year 21 villa schools were closed. Among their shortcomings, the buildings were crowded and lacked basic resources and proper emergency exit routes.

This year a further 10 villa schools were warned that they faced closure. Adec officials say they took action on six – Al Ekhlass, Badr Al Kobra and Baraem Al Aqsa private schools in Abu Dhabi and Al Amal, International and Zaharat Al Madain private schools in Al Ain – because the schools posed particular health and safety issues and because there was enough spare capacity to accommodate the displaced pupils.

All six schools mostly follow the Ministry of Education curriculum.

Yousif Al Sheryani, head of the private schools and quality assurance department at Adec, said there was a surplus of 3,000 school places in Al Ain. “Parents here should not have a problem, as the fees are also within the same range.”
He said from prior experience not all parents considered the options offered by the authority. “Between 30 and 40 per cent will apply at other schools,” he said.

“It is understandable that some parents may not choose the school in Baniyas, because of its distance, but they can look for other schools.”

Dr Makarim Mobarak, headmistress of the International Private School in Al Ain, said most parents had opted to send their children to the school’s new site, the former Al Sarrooj government school near by.

“It has been a smooth transition and we are working closely with the authority to accommodate all pupils,” she said.
“Also, priority will be given to those children who were at the other schools in Al Ain that have shut down.”

Pierre Scottorn, section manager of the private school improvement department at Adec, said the council had not yet made a decision on the remaining schools warned of possible closure.

“As these schools end their academic year at a different time, those decisions will be made at a later date.”

Two government school buildings are being held in reserve to accommodate additional closures, he said.

Parents whose children attend any of the closing schools will have priority placement in the new schools until July 31, when registration will open up to other children.

Adec sent letters home with children to parents telling them how to register at the new schools. Additional information sheets can be collected from Adec’s headquarters building on Airport Road, regional offices in Khalidiya or the Ministries area in Al Ain.

aahmed@thenational.ae

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Ministry to focus on technology in UAE schools

Dubai:  The UAE education ministry is committed to introducing technology in schools, the education minister said on Wednesday, announcing the launch of the fourth edition of the Global Education Forum (GEF) and the Gulf Educational Supplies & Solution (GESS) show.

The event, organised by the education ministry in association with Fairs & Exhibition (F&E), will take place from May 3-5.

"The ministry is committed to ... provide advanced learning opportunities for students," Humaid Al Qutami, the Minister of Education, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The selection of "Education in a knowledge society," as a key theme for this year's event is testament to the importance of embracing new channels and the dialogue between education experts and decision makers on the latest technologies to be used in educational institutions, he said.

Themes

The event focuses on special needs education, sustainable education and education for employability.

The themes of the event have been designed in line with the strategy of the ministry to improve aspects such as student outcome and school life, Dr Abdullah Mohammad Al Amiri, the advisor to the minister said.

This year's line-up includes published authors such as Dr Khalifa Ali Al Suwaidi, Assistant Professor at Department of Curriculum and Instruction, among many others.

Clive Richardson, Chief Executive Officer, F&E, said that GESS 2011 will see 30 countries represented at the event with over 250 exhibitors.

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