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Ministry to evaluate pvt school standards

DUBAI — The Ministry of Education (MoE) has set January 3, 2008 — the beginning of the second semester — for laying down the quality standards to evaluate private schools countrywide.

A detailed and in-depth report about the quality of education and curricula pursued by these schools will be announced. It will serve as a database for parents to refer when choosing the institutions for their children.

This will help ensure that the curricula followed by the schools are recognised, said Dr. Aisha Al Jalahma, Director of Special Needs Department at the MoE.

The ministry has entrusted a foreign expert, who works at the Policies and Planning Office, with the charge of private education.

She would chalk out the quality standards. The move is in view of the giant leap private education sector is making in the UAE — the number of private schools will equal the government ones within the next few years.

The ministry is forced to undertake the move because of complaints by parents, who had been at the receiving end for the past few years since some universities and higher education institutes abroad do not recognise some of the curricula, for instance American and British curricula, followed by some schools in the UAE, reliable sources in the ministry said.

Under the ministry’s project, authentic information about the schools would be compiled, they said.

Private education is set to witness emergence of conglomerates and company-run schools which meet the international quality standards.

The less developed schools will either improve their services or quit the competition. Shares of private schools might be traded in the UAE financial markets in the future.

This will help support educational progress and promote business investment in this critical sector, the sources said.

Compilation of the database is only the first step in setting the quality standards. It will contain information about the accredited schools, the curricula they follow and teaching staff.

The school premises will also be evaluated. Some schools hire foreign educators to attract more parents to their curricula which are sometimes unaccredited or have unsuitable premises. The database will signal the end of such schools.