Dubai, December 18: Heads of schools in the country have demanded setting up of private school representation councils in each emirate and a supreme council for administrators to iron out differences between education providers and the authorities like local education zones and ministry.
In the first-of-its-kind meeting with the Ministry of Education on Wednesday, private education providers said they want to participate in developing education policies and asked the ministry to ease operational procedures and provide consistent regulations.
The discussion was led by officials from the ministry and Knowledge and Human Development Authority of Dubai and representatives of two leading education providers in the country.
Highlighting the issues faced by private schools in the Northern Emirates, Ibrahim Baraka, principal of Shoalah Private School in Sharjah, said attempts to build a relationship between the ministry and private schools had failed to materialise in the past. Despite more than 350,000 students being educated in private schools, the schools’ role has been marginalised over the years.
“It is essential that there is mutual trust between the ministry and private schools,” Baraka said.
“It is necessary that schools be involved in the study and formulation of policies and regulations.”
Attendees proposed the creation of a council of private schools in each emirate and a supreme council with representation from local councils within the ministry. The council would liaison between schools and the education zone and with each other. It would advise the ministry about licensing, administration, curriculum development and assessments.
Ali Maihid Al Suwaidi, Acting Director-General of the ministry, said the meeting was the first of many discussions to address challenges faced by the private education providers. All recommendations would be considered by the ministry.
“Our primary goal is to determine the framework that will help us promote the principle of partnership and identify mechanisms that will lead to joint action,” he said.
Echoing similar sentiments were international school administrators who asked for better clarity and consistency in the functioning of the ministry and local education zones.
Richard Forbes, spokesperson of Gems, the largest education provider in the UAE, said working in a volatile system affects education and also increases the cost of operations.
“Inconsistency is bad for any education system,” he said. “It’s positively corrosive because the impact is inflationary. We need predictability.”
Providers also said they want the ministry to reduce bureaucratic procedures in recruiting staff and provide financial support to ailing organisations for the benefit of parents who cannot afford to pay for expensive schools.
“The ministry must work with other government organisations, like the Ministry of Labour, to ease procedures,” said Maryam Salahuddin, senior manager of operations at ETA Star Education Management Systems.
“These procedures take a lot of time and are costly,” she said.
Baraka said the decentralised education zones have led to rigid regulations and laws without regard to the history of the education system in the UAE.
The KHDA’s chief of Regulations and Compliance Commission said the authority’s aim was to provide a variety of opportunities to ensure access to appropriate education in Dubai and their guidelines for Dubai schools comply with the rules and regulations of the ministry.
“We all know that the majority of students are turning to private schools, which emphasises the need for laws and controls to promote quality of education, and we at KHDA are keen that these laws meet quality standards,” he said.
The development of public-private schools partnership to share practices and the emphasis on cultural understanding and national identity with a focus on Arabic also featured in discussions among the schools and authorities present.
–Agencies