UAE | Education
26 private schools housed in villas shut down
The Ministry of Education ordered the closure of 26 private schools operating from villas in both Dubai and Sharjah.
- By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:44 July 11, 2008
Dubai: The Ministry of Education ordered the closure of 26 private schools operating from villas in both Dubai and Sharjah.
Last week 13 schools housed in villas in Dubai were closed as they did not comply with the directives set by the Education Ministry to shift to a school building.
A Ministry of Cabinet Affairs Decree No. 28, 1999, ordered that villa schools should be phased out in the UAE, so by next year work on this will be complete in Dubai and Sharjah.
Flouting directive
According to a Gulf News report in 2005, 90 schools were operating out of villas in the UAE despite a Ministry of Education directive that they must move to dedicated premises.
Following the ministry's closure of 20 villa schools in Abu Dhabi in 2006,
Dr Hanif Hassan, Minister of Education, said the decision to immediately close villa schools was followed by a notification in 2004 to a number of private schools violating safety standards, which he witnessed during his unannounced visits to these schools across the country.
He said he would continue examining the issue of villa schools all over the country and would take appropriate action against those falling short of ministry requirements.
“The Ministry of Education has an obligation
to protect students and
to guarantee that they are being educated in a safe environment.
“These schools have been given ample time to improve safety conditions for their pupils. It is time
to take this action to protect the children,'' Dr Hassan said.
Mohammad Darwish, Chief of Licensing and Customer Relations at the Knowledge Human
Development Authority, had said that there were two villa schools, Buds Public School and Mirdif Private School, remaining in Dubai, both of which will be moving to new premises during the next academic year.
The closure last week of 13 private schools operating in villas in Sharjah was announced yesterday by Fouzia Al Gareeb, Director of Sharjah Education Zone.
Sharjah scenario
“With this announcement we have finalised the issue of villa schools in Sharjah. These schools have been given more than seven years to improve their standards. They gave various justifications for extending the deadline. However, during our investigations we realised there weren't any plans for moving out of the existing villas,'' Fouzia said.
Last year there were 25 villa schools in Sharjah,
of which 11 were closed while one requested the education council to cancel its school license.
Dr Mariam Al Ali, Director of Private Education Department at the Ministry of Education, said: “We are currently surveying the number of villa schools existing in the UAE. This will be followed by a formal written report to the minister.''
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