Dubai: Roughly 28,000 teaching, administrative and technical staff returned to public schools on Sunday to prepare for the arrival of students for the new academic year which will start on August 31.
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority has yet to release the figures for private schools, which will start on September 1.
Ministry of Education statistics revealed that of the 28,078 people who started work in 678 public schools yesterday, 22,821 were teachers and 5,257 were administration and technical staff.
Educational zones across all seven emirates said preparations are under way, noting that maintenance work in public schools is on schedule and they will be ready by the time pupils return from their summer vacation.
Hanan Al Attar, a music supervisor at the Sharjah Education Zone who is involved in the preparation process, said the zone is ready for the new academic year.
“We have been preparing the implementation plan for every subject in line with the ministry’s strategy. We have also been working on the students’ transportation and training teachers. We will be ready for the new academic year as most of us did not take any vacation and so have completed most of the work.”
Hanan said once schools start, the next step would be to visit schools allocated to each supervisor, to monitor how schools welcome the new students. After monitoring them supervisors have to prepare a report about their performance.
The Ministry of Education revealed earlier that roughly Dh69 million will be invested in the maintenance and upgrading of schools across the UAE in preparation for the new academic year.
Out of the total amount, Dh33 million will go towards extensive maintenance work in 28 schools, Dh10 million will go towards installing 3,374 AC units and 59 schools will receive upgrades worth Dh18 million.
In addition to maintenance work, educational bodies confirmed that they have started delivering books to schools.
The ministry’s statistics revealed that there are 4,961 teachers in Abu Dhabi, 4,891 in Al Ain, 1,041 in the Western Region, 2,253 in Dubai, 3,501 in Sharjah, 1,231 in Ajman, 553 in Umm Al Quwain, 1,760 in Fujairah, and 2,630 in Ras Al Khaimah.
Jehan K., an art teacher who works in a public school in Ajman, commenced work on Sunday.
“I will be changing the art decorations in the classrooms before classes start. I have also prepared the art supply and art projects that they will be working on for the rest of the year.”
When it comes to technical and administration staff, there are 964 in Abu Dhabi, 1,132 in Al Ain, 2,907 in Dubai and the northern region, 890 in Sharjah, 248 in Ajman, 185 in Umm Al Quwain, 376 in Fujairah and 664 in Ras Al Khaimah.
Private school preparations
Private schools have also started preparing for the new academic year; most private schools will start school in September 1.
The CEO of Indian High School (IHS) Dr Ashok Kumar said only the non-teaching staff started work today. IHS has 1,300 teaching and non- teaching staff. “IHS does a gap analysis initially, before holidays, to ensure getting the campus prepared for the staff and students after the vacation. Cleanliness and maintenance though is an ongoing process. We want to keep the campus prepared for students who will come back to school. We even get a quality check done with architects and get a certificate of clearance on campus.”
