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Few American schools from UAE attend Nesa conference

ABU DHABI — Schools following foreign curriculum should take up the professional responsibility to match their academic standards with that of their parent board, stated a senior Private Education Department official at the Ministry of Education and Youth (MoEY).

Naima Al Aryani, Director, Foreign Private Schools said yesterday while commenting on the insignificant presence of various American schools from the UAE in the Nesa (Near East South Asia Council of International Schools) Conference being held in Dubai since last Thursday.

Nesa is an international organisation based in Athens, which oversees and upgrades the overseas American schools to the international settings.

She said it was a matter of disappointment that there were a very few American schools from the UAE which participated in this prestigious conference in spite of the huge number of educational institutions that follow the American system of education," Naima remarked.

She said the American schools of the UAE should have utilised the opportunity to interact with the officials of Nesa and undertake measures to review and upgrade their curriculum, system of teaching and evaluation.

Naima also said that it is a matter of concern that most of the American schools in the UAE do not have a membership of Nesa, which ensures that the overseas schools stick to the American standards of education.

Calling it a very fruitful exercise, Naima emphasised that her department will make it a point to regularly participate in such international conferences and also be part of the accreditation protocol of American schools whenever they visit the country.

Principals and administrators of various American schools from Jordan, Kuwait, Cairo, Singapore, Islamabad, Karachi, Dhaka, West Indies etc. participated in the week-long conference held under the aegis of David Chajnocki, Executive Director of Nesa.

Juma Al Salami, Assistant Under-Secretary for Private Special education was the guest of honour. Ruxana Abdul Hameed, Educational Consultant and Mona Salah, Student Affairs In charge from the Foreign Private Schools Department were also present at the conference.

The Nesa board members also conducted a number of workshops and group discussions for the participants on subjects like curriculum mapping, evaluation and assessment procedures apart from facilitating interactive sessions for the principals.