Now boarding: Brit expats send kids back home

Dubai : British expats are sending their children back home for education after feeling "let down" by Dubai schools.

They said the trend is growing, even though authorities have initiated checks on schools here to lift standards. Only four out of over 200 schools examined by The Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) were rated ‘outstanding' in the first round.

Bureau results

The bureau's results also showed that over 25 per cent of Dubai students go to ‘unsatisfactory' schools. Findings from the second inspection cycle are expected to be out in May.

British woman Gail Thompson said she sent back her dyslexic son to a school in the UK because she felt Dubai schools were not ‘concerned' enough. "His learning difficulty meant he needed support. Sadly, Dubai doesn't provide that adequately," she said.

"Schools are in a mad rush when it's time for inspections. But they need to change their whole dynamics. I've been pulled to the side and told he [my son] wouldn't be able to achieve in class.

"But students can't study if they aren't motivated by teachers. Staffers are generally young people who want to come here just to have a good time," Thompson said, adding that three British families known to her have recently sent back their kids and "everyone else I know is thinking about it too".

Another UK parent said though many Dubai schools are value-for-money when it comes to technology and academic reputation, they fall short on ‘genuine' care. "What are authorities checking - exam results? That alone tells you nothing; schools just want to look good. It's by speaking to us [parents] you know how well they [schools] are doing," Sharon Morgan said.

The DSIB had given parents the chance to speak out, through over 52,000 surveys, in the latest school inspection series and promised that their views would be considered when judging schools.

Sent packing

However, Morgan and six other families with "similar experiences" had already sent their children - around a dozen of them in total - packing last September. She said schoolteachers here had repeatedly turned a blind eye to her daughter's struggles in class.

"I asked them to support her, but they said: ‘Oh well, get her a private tutor.' Isn't that their job?" asked Morgan, who herself is a teacher. "We felt so let down. What about the families who can't afford a tutor?" she said.

Morgan added, "Schools tend to hire married women as teachers because it saves visa costs. But when the husband's job ends, they've got to go as well."

Tricky situation

That was the case with Nigel's family last year. "I lost my job and had to find another job. After I drew a blank it meant a total upheaval for me and my daughter ... So it had to be a boarding school in the UK," Nigel told Sue Anderson education consultancy last year. He eventually took up work in Egypt.

Sue Anderson - she heads the British consultancy with the same name - confirmed that parents are worried. "We're increasingly hearing these stories. At the primary school level it's still OK, but at the secondary level there are increasing disruptions," she said.

The UAE is facing the biggest drain from the Middle East to UK boarding schools, the consultancy said. Almost 80 per cent of outbound pupils belong to families based in the Emirates, it added.