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Final days of last two villa schools in Al Ain

The last two villa schools in Al Ain will cease operation by the end of this month, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) said on Sunday.

The 1,013 students from the Oasis Private School and New Al Hilal Private School will be offered admission at the Oasis International School, which will operate temporarily at a government school building in Al Mezyad district while awaiting the completion of its new building. The replacement school’s license was already approved by the Adec.

The two schools were the last of the seven villa schools in Al Ain that were shut down in succession over the past two years since the Adec started closing down schools operating out of residential premises.

From 77 in 2010, only 41 villa schools now remain in operation in the Capital. All villa schoolsare scheduled to close down by 2013.

“The management teams from both New Al Hilal Private School and Oasis Private School made the decision to close the villa schools to comply with the government’s vision for all students to attend safe and purpose built schools,” Pierre Scottorn, private school improvement manager at the ADEC, told Khaleej Times.

Hamad Al Dhaheri, executive director of ADEC’s Private Schools and Quality Assurance commended the schools’ decision which he said was “an important landmark for the ADEC and the community of Al Ain.”

“The ADEC will now focus its attention on the re-location of students attending the 41 villa schools that remain operational in Abu Dhabi region to purpose-built schools,” he added.

Students of the Oasis Private School are expected to transition smoothly into their new school, as it offers similar Indian Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum. Oasis International is also just 15 minutes away by car from their old school.

Students from the New Al Hilal Private School, which follows the Pakistani curriculum, however have the option to shift to the CBSE curriculum. Final examination is currently going on at the Pakistani school.

According to Scottorn, registration at the Oasis International School will commence immediately with priority given to students from the two villa schools. The new school can accommodate up to 1,680 students.

Fees will remain “affordable... with the current tuition fees not increasing by more than 20 per cent”, added Scottorn.

Since the villa school closure process started, the ADEC has been working with the school owners to help them with the transition by informing them of the options available to them — to move to a purpose-built school building by working within the ADEC’s licensing process to build a new school or to take the decision to close their school.

Schools that can afford to build their own schools were given government schools to rent for a nominal fee of Dh30,000 a year till their own building is completed by 2013.

To register at Oasis International School, e-mail to reg@oasisalain.com

olivia@khaleejtimes.com