Abu Dhabi schools on track to open on Sept. 9

Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) announced that preparations for the start of the new school year 2012-2013 are on track for students' back to school.

According to Adec Calendar, teaching and administrative staff will be back on September 2 while students will commence on September 9.

Ahmad Sultan Al Shamsi, Adec's General Services Division Manager, said that transportation needs for the school year 2012-2013 were determined by the School Transportation Committee to meet the increased number of students in Abu Dhabi schools. "This includes the provision of bus supervisors identified in coordination with Emirates Transport and other relevant authorities to ensure the safety and security of students", Al Shamsi added.

Al Shamsi indicated that Adec has agreed with Emirates transport to provide additional buses in order to meet the needs of new schools across the various regions.

Adec is keen to ensure that all school buses meet the highest safety and security standards, so that students are provided with safe means of transportation. Moreover, school name must be clearly written in Arabic inside each bus and qualified supervisors shall be provided to monitor students during their travels to and from schools.

Adec has drafted textbooks distribution process by the end of 2011-2012 to be applied to Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Gharbia schools. A number of 61,926 Adec and MoE textbooks have been distributed to C1 schools, 39,145 books to C2 schools, 9,610 books to G10, 7,500 books to G11 and 8,985 books to G12.


After the completion of distribution process, schools have been provided with textbooks lists to check the number of books, surpluses and deficits. Moreover, those lists will be completed and C1 learning resources will be distributed by the beginning of the new school year. Those resources shall support ADEC's new school model which is based on the use of modern '&' diversified resources as well as advanced means of student assessment.

Regarding maintenance, Adec, in coordination with MUSANADA, started performing the comprehensive annual maintenance works needed in public schools in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Eng. Khaled Al Ansari, Adec's Facilities Management Section Manager, said that "this year's maintenance works started in July and aim to refurbish 107 schools in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Gharbia Region. Other schools will undergo maintenance throughout the year when needed." Chief among the works carried out by ADEC this year is the installation of elevators accessible to special needs students in 21 schools, Al Ansari added.

"Adec is keen to hire top contractors to execute all maintenance works in accordance with the required quality level and within the timeline. All schools will be ready before the teaching and administrative staff report back to schools on September 2 and students start their new school year on September 9," he indicated.


"Special care was given to the coming school year's merged schools to secure sufficient labs and activity rooms. Such schools will be ready to fulfill the needs of all students and meet the requirements of the New School Model applied in the emirate's schools," Al Ansari pointed out.

Adec carries out school mergers to maximize the use of both school building capacity and human resources in order to ensure improved school performance and better resource allocation.

Maintenance works included replacing tiles and paintings in some schools in addition to the creation of shaded parking lots and replacement of old shades of playgrounds in other schools. Moreover, water systems and toilets have been refurbished and AC systems have been evaluated and, when needed, replaced.
 

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