Abu Dhabi: Sunday, September 9, marks the start of another academic year in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, and nearly 127,000 public school pupils are expected to go back to their classrooms.
In preparation for the 2012-2013 academic year, routine maintenance has been carried out at all 268 public schools, with 170 being renovated. In addition, 404 new Emirati teachers have been recruited and all schools have been provided with information technology infrastructure, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) announced in a statement.
“All necessary preparations have been made to ensure that the needs of pupils and staff members are met at the beginning of the school year,” said Mohammad Salem Al Daheri, executive director of school operations at the Adec.
This year, there are 21 new public schools in the emirate, as well as 50 that have been merged or renovated.
Thousands of Ministry of Eudcation and Adec textbooks have already been supplied to public schools, and these will be distributed to pupils on the first day of the term, the Adec statement added. More than 50 additional schoolbuses have also been provided to schools to accommodate the growing number of schoolchildren.
And as per the standards of the Adec’s New School Model (NSM), Emirati teachers will teach three major subjects in English for the first time, including the English language, Mathematics and Science. This year, the NSM, which encourages creativity and critical thinking over rote learning, will be applied to all public schoolchildren enrolled up to Grade 5.
A new fee payment system has also been introduced at public schools to ensure that expatriate parents settle their dues before the end of the first term in December. A fee of Dh6,000 per child is applicable for any expatriate child enrolled within Grade 1 to 12, and parents must now sign an undertaking form to pay the fees.
The new system has been implemented in order to ensure the timely payment of fees, and to reduce instances of non-payment which have been frequent in previous years. In fact, unpaid fees at public schools were estimated at Dh 192 million for the past three years, the Adec announced in an earlier statement.
A number of private schools across the emirate are also beginning their new terms tomorrow.
The 2012-2013 academic year will see an additional 16,000 new seats provided across 10 new private schools in the emirate, Hamad Al Daheri, executive director for private schools and quality assurance at the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec), earlier told Gulf News. Among the newly opened schools are the Belvedere Private School in Abu Dhabi city, and Al Dhafra Private Schools and the Yas Academy that have shifted to newer premises.
Fee increases of up to nine per cent have also approved at nearly 30 private schools in the emirate. Although Adec receives many fee hike requests each year, such increases are only approved if the schools are undertaking new investment or working to increase the quality of education at their institutions, Al Daheri added.
