Abu Dhabi: From the upcoming 2015-2016 academic year onwards, public school pupils will be able to choose between elective science courses in Grade 11.

Accordingly, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec), the emirate’s education sector regulator, today (June 1) called on all pupils enrolled in Grade 10 to register their preferences online through the Adec website. A total of 8,824 pupils are expected to choose between Biology II, Chemistry II and Geoscience before the end of the month.

The new choice of electives offered to public school pupils marks a departure from pupils selecting between the two previously offered disparate streams of study in Grade 11 and 12: Literary and Science. As part of a restructuring for public schools, pupils in these grades will now be offered a unified curriculum, with choices between certain elective subjects.

As reported by Gulf News in March, the reform will ensure that high school pupils spend nearly 50 per cent of their time at school, or 21 classes a week out of a total of 45, learning subjects related to the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This has been deemed necessary by the Abu Dhabi Government so that pupils can go on to take up roles in emerging industries, which require a sophisticated knowledge of scientific and technological subjects.

Education officials said earlier that nearly 80 per cent of Emirati students in public schools have chosen to focus on the humanities in the past, even though the majority of new jobs and career opportunities are currently in technical industries.

The new modified curriculum includes a number of core subjects in addition to the science elective, namely, Islamic Education, Arabic, Integrated Social Studies, English, Maths, Physics, Design Technology and Innovation, Health and Physical Education, and Career Guidance and Student Support.

Geoscience, a subject introduced in the curriculum for the first time, is inquiry-based, and includes topics such as the search for energy and mineral resources, the prediction of natural hazards, and the development of land use and management techniques via Geographic Information and Global Positioning systems.

“These are all important requirements that will prepare pupils for a wide variety of career opportunities in the petroleum, mining, or environmental industries,” said Dr Najwa Al Hosani, curriculum division manager at the Adec.

On the other hand, Biology II includes lab and field research, along with topics like health care, environmental conservation, biotechnology and economics. Pupils well-versed in them can go on to pursue careers in environmental and biological sciences, or in the fields of biotechnology and medicine. Pupils who pursue Chemistry II, on the other hand, can prepare for careers in medicine, engineering, research and software designs.

For the 2015-2016 academic year, there is a choice of three Science electives. But the Adec statement said that there are plans to introduce more electives in coming years.

“We are confident that our Grade 11 pupils will enjoy the new and exciting changes in the curriculum, which will not only help us achieve our mission to eliminate the university foundation year by 2018, but also fit in Abu Dhabi’s goals of becoming a globally competitive and diversified economy by 2030,” Dr Najwa added.