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11,000 private school seats by 2015-16

To meet the growing demand for private education facilities in the Capital, more than 11,000 school seats, located in very attractive locations for private investors, are due to operate by the academic year 2015-2016.

The efforts taken by Abu Dhabi Education Council’s (Adec’s) will see the new seats open up in areas including Khalifa A, Al Wathba and Al Fallah.

This is the second land Request for Proposal (RfP) to be issued by Adec’s Private Schools and Quality Assurance (PSQA) sector, which offers a huge opportunity for an establishment and operating of a long-term school building. The new schools will offer the most demanded curriculum’s in the private school sector, namely: Indian, American, British and Ministry of Education curriculums.

“One of the main pillars of Adec’s strategy for developing education in Abu Dhabi is to provide equal opportunities for all students to enjoy quality education at an affordable cost. This land RfP is part of Adec’s plan to cope with the annual demand and increase of five per cent for more private schools across the emirate. We will continue to work on attracting and supporting committed investors in order to help build new private schools in order to achieve Adec’s vision,” said, Adec’s PSQA executive director Engineer Hamad Al Dhaheri.

He added: “Providing this land RfP is part of Adec’s strategy plan to offer high quality affordable education across the private school sector and to increase the supply of school seats in populous areas in Abu Dhabi. For that reason, Adec is reaching out to qualified investors on a local, federal and regional level, who have excellent educational experience, strong financial capabilities and a proven record of managing schools.”

In order to ease the process for committed investors, Adec’s PSQA sector will provide all the incentives and support, from business development expertise to obtaining the necessary licences and approvals from the government entities.

When asked why the new land plots are located in Khalifa A, Al Wathba and Al Fallah, Engineer Al Dhaheri explained that there are no more lands available in the city.

“The island of Abu Dhabi is saturated; in addition these areas are growing by the day and are attractive for many families who chose to relocate there. In addition to the fact that they become not far out from the island of Abu Dhabi at all.”

“Currently there is a demand to provide 201,744 private schools seats and supply is 175,441. By the 2015/2016 academic school year we expect this demand to rise to 225,521”, said Engineer Tareq Al Ameri, Business Development Division Manager for PSQA.

Once applications for the land RfP are submitted by committed investors who prove to have a strong track record of handling long-term school projects, Adec will provide them with a fast-track service to help obtain the necessary approvals to get started in constructing their schools.

Further details for potential investors will be released in an advertisement, which is expected to be published in September.