Dubai: Thousands of students returned to classes in Indian curriculum schools on Sunday with the beginning of the new academic year, with some offering new facilities and activities, officials said.
There are more than 30 schools in the UAE that offer the Indian curricula, including the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate for Secondary Education (ICSE).
Delhi Private School, located in Sharjah, has launched additional activities this new academic year and hired more teachers, including those focusing on students with special needs and disabilities, as well as counsellors, Chitra Raghavan, the school’s headmistress, told Gulf News by phone.
“We have included scouts and guides, robotics and aerobics this year. We want to give every student a choice,” she said, adding that the school already offers chess, and reading and writing clubs, among others.
Meanwhile, Dubai’s Sabari Indian School is adding new facilities this year for sports, including football, basketball, cricket and badminton, and has hired more coaches.
“The school will be introducing many innovative and new ways in the teaching and learning process like the ‘Innovation and Stem Lab’ and tablets to improve learning… Apart [from that] , we are increasing the sports facilities, extra-curricular and co-curricular activities to enable the children to develop holistically,” said Stanley Lawrence, the school’s director.
Some schools have seen an increase in the number of students this year.
Sukwinder Bassi, senior vice president – schools at GEMS Education, said that there is an increase of more than 4,000 students at GEMS Indian curriculum schools compared to the last academic year.
“As students from Indian curriculum schools in the UAE start their new academic year today, we are privileged to say we now have over 52,000 students at GEMS Indian curriculum schools,” he said.
Around 20 students (excluding those in kindergarten) have been enrolled at Delhi Private School, which has more than 5,800 students, while Sabari Indian School has 168 new registrations this year.
“We are packed. We have 30 students in one class,” Raghavan said, adding that the student-teacher ratio is 12:1.
Student enrolment in Indian schools in Dubai has been increasing by 28 per cent annually since the 2011-2012 academic year, according to the Private Education in Dubai 2015/2016 report by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).
GEMS Education has opened GEMS United Indian School in Abu Dhabi and GEMS Heritage Indian School in Dubai this year, “in line with the leadership’s vision for the UAE’s education sector” and to meet increasing demand for good quality Indian schools, Bassi said. It has also added around 450 new teachers to its Indian curriculum schools this year.
It is common practice of schools in the UAE to increase tuition fees. This year is no exception. For instance, Sabari Indian School has hiked its tuition fee by 3.21 per cent this year, according to Lawrence.
There was palpable excitement among schoolchildren at Gems Modern Academy on the first day.
“Children came in excited about being back since they know we have an interesting Back to School programme over two days. The focus is ‘show them, you know them’ where the new children get introduced and children get to know each other and their teachers.....this is important as classes are shuffled for appropriate socio-emotional development. The Senior Leadership Team is involved in planning the National Agenda strategy and the focus on development of Arabic across the school, including Arabic classes for parents,” Nergish Khambatta, principal at Gems Modern Academy, told Gulf News.
Meanwhile, Ashok Kumar, CEO of Indian High School, said: “Our children look forward to being back at school and this year our programmes for senior students especially is very dynamic as we are attempting to align ourselves to UAE’s National Education agenda 2021. Every year we have specific goals to complete. This year we are focussing on high skills for senior students in Arabic language proficiency. We are moving with a definite programme and we will fulfil our goal of alignment by 2021.”
With inputs from Suchitra Chaudhary, Senior Reporter
