Private schools to get grade licences gradually

No licence will be issued by the Ministry of Education and Youth for a private school to teach all grades, but it will first be issued with a licence to teach basic education.

Thereafter, if the school is proved to have enough capabilities and finance to open new classes for other grades, it will be issued with the proper licence.

Juma Ahmed Al Salami, the ministry's assistant undersecretary for private education, said it is impossible to licence a new private school to teach all grades from primary to secondary grades while it has not yet acquired the requisite experience and expertise.

He also said that the Private Education Department has started putting together an ambitious plan to overcome the problems of private education, as reported in a section of the media.

According to the plan, an accreditation authority for assessing private education will be created, as per the instructions of Dr Ali Abdul Aziz Al Sharhan, Minister of Education and Youth.

The authority will check whether private schools meet the requirements of proper buildings, arrangements, educational experience, fees, curriculum standards, performance of teachers, their salaries, and standard of students.

Al Salami also said the ministry will issue a classification guide that places schools into categories, based on whether they meet official requirements. This guide will be of use to parents, who will select their preferred school.

It will also reassure private school owners in respect of the educational fees they levy, where suitable fees will be set for each category.

Al Salami said that the intermediate schools will not be coeducational after Grade five.

Earlier, Ali Meihad Al Suwaidi, undersecretary responsible for Private Education, told Gulf News the government will allow more investment in private education to raise its quality and competitiveness. This is part of the ministry's efforts to make the UAE the Gulf region's leading educational hub.

Investors in private education must comply with certain guidelines set by the ministry, he stressed. "The ultimate goal of the ministry is to inject vitality into the private education sector and open it to competition."

Quality can be achieved, he stressed, by putting in place finely-tuned liberalisation policies. "We need people to get the best quality of education at the lowest possible cost. We also want to broaden the education market to cater to the varied needs of the UAE residents."

The official had noted the ministry could not fully implement its liberalisation policies. Just the same, it had taken steps in this direction and is accepting applications for new schools, a move that had been frozen for five years.

"Student welfare is the main concern, and measures will now be taken to ensure that students are fully prepared for their examinations and sit examinations having followed a full and balanced curriculum," he added.

He stressed that everyone - including students, parents, teachers and the system as a whole - would benefit from the new rules now being put into place.