Things start looking up for Pakistani schools in UAE

Pakistani schools in the UAE are looking for ways to improve, including one institution that plans on raising teachers' salaries to enhance performance.
The move comes after inspection reports by local education authorities revealed Pakistani schools' key weak points and areas of strengths.
His Highness Sheikh Rashid Al Maktoum Pakistan School in Dubai, for example, has put an increased focus on training their teachers and will be raising their salaries.
The principal of the non-profit school, Imran Waheed, told Khaleej Times that they were allowed to hike tuition fees by 4.14 per cent this academic year as their ratings moved up to 'acceptable' after seven consecutive years of being rated as 'weak' - enabling them to hike teacher salaries.
The school has also seen a 30 per cent increase in the number of student admissions since last year because of the improved rating.
"Teacher turnover is at a minimum and this was even reported by the inspectors. This time, we were given the tuition fee increase and I am planning on increasing the teachers' salaries, which hasn't been done in so many years," he said, revealing that the minimum salary of a teacher at the school is Dh3,000.
"We've made a school action improvement plan and it encompasses all the recommendations from the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) inspections. We've adopted strategies in our school improvement plan, which includes the introduction of learning material and digital resources. In most of our classrooms, we put digital smart boards and focus on professional development of our teachers. Apart from mandatory courses by the KHDA, we are using Gulf education services and digital resources and trainers from the UK for the training of our teachers."
The school currently has 85 teachers and 1,350 students. It's licenced by the Community Development Authority (CDA), with tuition fees as low as Dh300 per month.
The Pakistani Community Welfare School in Abu Dhabi has also chalked out an improvement plan, which includes focusing on the reading and writing skills of students.
School principal Farhat Jadoon told Khaleej Times that a high teacher turnover rate continues to be a problem as salaries are as low as Dh2,500 to Dh3,000.
There are 24 teachers, three assistants and 367 students at the school. The fees is as low as Dh230 per month.
"I joined the school in 2017 and the school is on track. It's the first time the school passed the Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek) inspection. I'm focusing a lot on the students' reading and writing skills," she said.
The Pakistan Association of Dubai (PAD) has been providing free workshops for Pakistani schools across the country in efforts to improve their quality.
Samina Nasir, head of the education committee at PAD, said one of the main struggles schools face is hiring professional teachers.
"There is a two-year bachelor degree in Pakistan that most teachers get before coming here. But it's not equivalent to the required certification here, so schools struggle to hire them," she said.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE
• Dubai