Budget blues hit education centre

Dubai: Some Adult Education Centres offering evening classes say they have not received their Ministry of Education budgets for this academic term.

Public schools offering evening classes have been relying on donations from individuals and companies, but a ministry official recently said they will be given a budget of Dh5,000 for the current academic term.

Salim Al Ghaber, Manager of the Adult Education Department said the Ministry is undergoing a study to implement a fixed budget starting in the next academic year. "A Dh5,000 budget is certainly not enough. The equivalent day classes get at least Dh50,000," he said.

Basic needs

Fatima Al Malek, Director of Al Qurtuba Adult Education Centre for Women, said she had not heard about the recent budget. "We were promised Dh20,000, then Dh10,000, but we never got anything," she said.

The centre depends on donations but it has not been receiving any from companies at present because they have been told that the Ministry of Education was allocating a budget.

"It is completely untrue. Besides if the Ministry wants to provide us with only Dh5,000 then we don't want it," Al Malek told Gulf News. She said the sum is a "humiliation," since it does not cover the basic requirements of the school.

Her centre has more than 500 pupils attending different grades.