Two new private schools to ease seat shortfall

Abu Dhabi: Parents who had previously enrolled their children in villa schools were relieved to hear about the two new educational institutions that are to open their portals this academic year since seats in private schools in the capital are hard to come by.

Six schools in Abu Dhabi, that had been operating out of villas had been issued closure orders by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) for not meeting standards. To help pupils who had previously attended those institutions, Adec has now provided two buildings that were vacated by public schools and will now house private institutions.

One of the schools, named the 6th of August, will be located in Muroor Street and will be targeted mainly at former students of Pioneer's International. Another, The Saad Bin Obaidah School is in Bani Yas, and will mainly cater to students in the vicinity, in addition to students who attended Azhar Palestine School, Al Sahaba Private School and KG, Al Mashreq Private School and Cultural Private School.

Relief for parents

"I was greatly relieved because of these schools. As soon as we heard that Pioneer's International was closing down, all of us panicked. There are not many options for the Filipino community here," said Tony Morales, who has a daughter studying in ninth grade.

"Many were saying that they might fly back to the Philippines, and have their children study there. We were all very relieved when Adec announced that they would be providing an alternative for us, especially since the curriculum has many Filipino elements to it," he added.

Marie-Jane Lopecillo, whose child was also at Pioneer's, mirrored similar sentiments. She explained that the new schools had helped her as searching for another suitable school was going to be a very difficult task.

"I'm actually very excited about this school. We were told that there are going to be many great facilities, and there is a new administration. The fees are also reasonable," she added.

Although fees had increased for parents moving their children to these new facilities, some parents felt that the increases were justified, as they felt that services that would be provided for students matched costs.

"I have three children in grades KG, 1 and 2, and I have enrolled them all in Saad Bin Obaidah School. To be honest, this campus is so different from the school my children went to before. The villa before was small, and children need space to play and to have physical activities," Sudanese expatriate A.K. said.

Abdullah Abu Shehadeh, another parent, added: "At the beginning I was not happy with the fact that I had no alternative but this school, due to lack of spaces, but now I feel that I made the right choice."