Abu Dhabi: After nearly seven years of concerted efforts, all private schools that were housed in non-purpose-built facilities within the emirate of Abu Dhabi have been shut down, education officials announced in the capital today (October 13).

There were 72 such facilities, known as villa schools, during the 2008-2009 academic year. The emirate’s education sector regulator, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec), then announced its initiative to move all pupils to purpose-built school premises. The last villa school was accordingly closed down two weeks ago.

“Shutting down these villa schools and moving their 46,000 pupils to safer facilities was a big challenge for the Adec and its stakeholders, but we can proudly say that it has been achieved,” Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, director-general at the Adec, said.

“Villa schools were not only unsafe and congested for pupils, they also lacked the premises to offer extracurricular activities that are an integral part of childhood development,” she added.

These schools used to provide a variety of curricula, including American, British, Indian and UAE Ministry of Education systems of study.

To accommodate them, the Adec granted plots of land to investors at a cost of Dh1 per square metre. A total of 29 new schools were built at a cost of Dh2 billion to replace the villa schools, and these new private facilities provided nearly 66,000 seats.

Low tuition fees were one of the main advantages at villa schools.

To ensure that parents did not face an unfair burden, Adec mandated that villa school pupils would only be subjected to a 20 per cent increase in school fees when moving to a new school. Thereafter, the fees could be increased for these pupils by 10 per cent each year for the next three years.

As reported by Gulf News, parents of children in villa schools were often worried about finding new school seats for their wards. Adec’s efforts, however, ensured that most pupils were offered alternative enrolment before the start of the next academic year.

One parent whose children had been enrolled at an Indian curriculum villa school in 2014 however said that the quality of education at some of the new schools still needs improvement.

“My sons were offered seats at a new school at the start of the 2014-2015 academic year, but the teachers were not very good there. So my family has moved back to India where my sons can get a better education,” F. Mohammad told Gulf News.