ADEC provides alternative solutions for villa school students

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) is developing a plan to increase school capacity, Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Director-General of ADEC, said in an ADEC press conference on Tuesday.
 
Mohammad Salem, Head of Abu Dhabi Education Zone, and Yousif Al Sheryani, Education Advisor to the Director General, also participated in the press conference.

The announcement followed a Municipality of Abu Dhabi City announcement on Tuesday to close six schools operating in residential premises.

ADEC is providing two vacant government schools to accommodate students from these six schools on a priority-registration basis. The Saad Bin Obaidah School in Baniyas and the August 6th School in Muroor will provide sufficient capacity to accommodate all 2,291 students currently enrolled in the schools that were ordered to close down by 30 June 2010.

One school will provide MoE curriculum and the other will provide English-medium curriculum. UAE nationals attending these six schools will be given the option to register at public schools throughout Abu Dhabi.

ADEC invited private operators to submit proposals to open and manage the school facilities that will provide the capacity needed as a result of these closures. Operators will be required by ADEC to maintain school fees in the same range of those applied by the closing schools.

School operators of the six closed schools have also been given the opportunity to apply for a new private school license to operate in new school facilities that adhere to requirements of building regulations and are in line with ADEC health, safety and academic standards.

This move follows a meeting ADEC initiated earlier this month with prominent businessmen encouraging them to invest in solutions to increase capacity of affordable schools. ADEC offered to provide land for a low rent to private school operators who will be invited to submit proposals to build high-quality affordable schools.

"Providing a safe learning environment for our students is our number one priority. ADEC supports and commends the measures taken by the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City to safeguard the health and safety of our children," Director General of ADEC H.E. Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili said.

"ADEC has been working hard to ensure that this will be a beneficial transition for students. This is a positive step forward for students who will have access to better school facilities and a higher quality of education".

"We appreciate that announcements such as these inevitably require families' attention and cooperation, and we wish to ensure the community of ADEC's support to find alternatives. Our overriding commitment is to the well-being of all students here in Abu Dhabi; we will strive in every way to ensure that all Abu Dhabi schools provide a safe, healthy and academically-sound learning environment, and that there is sufficient supply of affordable and competitive school alternatives to meet the needs of the community here in Abu Dhabi," he added.

"This move supports ADEC's goal to develop a private education system that provides the highest standards of education within first-class learning environments."

On Sunday the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City announced the closure of six private schools operating out of residential premises on the basis of severe infringements to building regulations and health and safety violations. The notified schools were Azhar Phalestine School, Al Sahaba Private School and KG, Al Mashreq Private School, Cultural Private School, The Coast Private School, and Pioneers International Private School.

The closure process of villa schools was actually initiated more than 10 years ago through Federal Law No. 28 of 1999, which requires all private schools to comply with government regulations, including the use of appropriate building facilities. There has been an ongoing process of villa school closure and relocation since this point, with a number of school operators complying with requests to relocate to purpose-built facilities while other villa schools were closed.

Further notices were sent to villa schools owners informing them of Cabinet Resolution No. 270/7 of 2002 which mandated final closure of these schools, with a two-year grace period until the end of academic year 2003/2004 followed by a second three-year grace period by Cabinet Resolution No. 375/23M of 2004 until the end of academic year 2006/2007. A number of operators have disregarded these notifications and have continued operations.

The Municipality of Abu Dhabi City is undergoing comprehensive inspections of all schools to investigate their compliance with the building regulations and guidelines, and is expected to sanction non-compliant schools in the following years as they are determined.

ADEC is continuing to engage with partners in the private and public sector to develop solutions for an expected increase in demand for private school capacity. ADEC reiterated its previous announcement that it welcomes plans from operators to run high-quality academic programs under a not-for-profit or low-fee model, and that ADEC would support these initiatives through the provision of land for a low rent.

Parents can use a dedicated customer service line to acquire additional information on available options and to get instruction on how to enroll their children into healthier and safer learning environments.