Dubai Over 100 students of two Dubai schools have been uprooted following the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA)’s refusal to allow the schools to add new grades.
While the two-year-old Springdales Dubai, a CBSE-curriculum school managed by the Goldline Education Group, has been denied permission to hold classes beyond Grade 8, it is a case of history repeating itself at the O level, GEMS-run Winchester School on Oud Metha Road, which for the second year has not been allowed to introduce Grade 10.
A GEMS spokesperson confirmed to XPRESS: “The GEMS Winchester School, Dubai, offers the national curriculum for England for students from Foundation Stage 1 to Year 9. Unfortunately, the school did not receive the necessary approvals to extend Year 10 classes for our students. We are supporting families by offering priority placement in schools where we may have places available.”
Dr Farooq Wasil, Goldline CEO, said: “KHDA has not given us its approval to add Grade 9. We are sad that our Grade 8 students have had to leave us and we have got most of them admissions in other schools.”
According to the regulator, the schools were denied permission on quality grounds. Mohammad Darwish, chief of regulations and permits commission, KHDA, told XPRESS: “Schools applying to add grades and expand should already be offering quality education in order for their applications to be considered. KHDA views both the qualitative and regulatory aspects while deciding on applications to add grades. KHDA bases its quality-related decisions on the school’s performance and compliance reports.”
But harrowed parents questioned the existing framework for the expansion of new schools and said their feedback should also have been sought before the schools were appraised. While Springdales Dubai opened in 2013, Winchester has been operational for four years.
Farewell too soon
“I have never seen my daughter happier than at Springdales. Thank you for every smile you brought to her face. For every encouraging pat and word of praise,” wrote a Springdalian mother in a Facebook post to the school as she and her Grade 8 daughter “bid goodbye with tears in our eyes”.
A Winchester mother said: “My daughter has been studying at Winchester since Grade 6. I can tell you the school and its teachers are wonderful. My daughter’s progress has been tremendous and now to hear this is ridiculous. How can a school be good enough to function till Grade 9 and then suddenly become unfit for Grade 10? Isn’t it a logical progression?”
She said although the school was not allowed to start Grade 10 last year too, Grade 8 parents continued with the school for Grade 9 in the hope that KHDA would grant permission this year. “If things were not going to change, why did they wait until the end of spring break to inform us? My daughter is in the middle of the term and no school we have approached so far is ready to admit her,” she said, adding that the new term begins in September.
The issue has been more pressing for the 31 Grade 8 students at Springdales.
N. Jerson, father of a Grade 8 boy, said: “We were informed about the decision on April 5 which left us with no time to look for a new admission. It is a very traumatic time for the children as most schools have entrance tests.”
One parent said it was critical that the students get immediate admission as they have to be registered for Grade 10 exams before the first week of May. “Surely, such basics should be considered in the students’ best interest. We are here for serious schooling, not some kind of child’s play.”
KHDA’s Darwish said: “Schools are trusted to be transparent and timely in their communications with the parents, explaining why new grades won’t be added.”
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