Abu Dhabi: A total of 26 private schools in the emirate of Abu Dhabi have been barred from enrolling new students for the 2017-2018 academic year.
In a statement sent today (May 23), the emirate’s education sector regulator, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) said the schools had been categorised within Band C as ‘Weak’ or ‘Very Weak’.
These institutions were informed about the ban on registration in March, and the decision will remain in place until the schools are able to improve their inspection report and attain a ranking of ‘Acceptable’ in the next inspection cycle, the statement added.
There are currently 191 private schools in the emirate, and they enrol about 245,000 students between them. About 74.4 per cent of all students at these schools come from expatriate households.
Hamad Al Dhaheri, executive director for private schools and quality assurance at the Adec, urged operators of the 26 schools to reform their education standards in order to meet the authority’s requirements.
According to the Adec, three of the schools are rated as ‘Very Weak’, namely the United School of Baniyas (American curriculum) and the Al Tharawat Private School (Ministry of Education curriculum) in the capital, as well as Al Marfaa International Private School (Indian curriculum) in Al Gharbia.
The rest are all rated as ‘Weak’. They include four schools in the capital, including the Emirates National School – Al Nahyan (American curriculum), Modern Private School (Ministry of Education curriculum), International Private School (English National Curriculum), and Al Surouh Private School (American curriculum). In Al Ain, 10 schools have been banned from enrolling new students, namely the Al Ain English Speaking School (British curriculum), Darul Huda Islamic School (Indian curriculum), Indian Private School (Indian curriculum), Ibn Khaldoun Islamic Private School (Ministry of Education curriculum), Dar Al Uloom Private School (Ministry of Education curriculum), Global English Private School (English National Curriculum), Abdulla Bin Zubair Private School (English National Curriculum), Grace Valley Indian School (Indian curriculum), Sunflower Private School (British curriculum), Aliaa International School (American curriculum).
In Al Gharbia, 4 schools have been banned, including the Asian International Private School (Indian curriculum), ADNOC School in Madinat Zayed (American curriculum), Bright Riders School Branch 1 (Indian curriculum), and Manar Al Ilm school (English National Curriculum).
Inspection reports for two schools that were previously found to be weak are still pending, namely the The National Torches (Ministry of Education curriculum) in Abu Dhabi city and the Al Isra’a Private School (Ministry of Education curriculum) in Al Ain.
