Adec unveils School Reorganisation Plan

Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) unveiled a plan for the reorganisation of schools in all three regions of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Gharbia.

This plan will be implemented at the beginning of the new academic year 2011 - 2012 and includes the merger of 40 schools, 8 of them in Abu Dhabi Region, 20 in Al Ain and 12 in Al Gharbia. 11 newly refurbished schools will be opened: 4 in Abu Dhabi, 5 in Al Ain and 2 in Al Gharbia, the opening of 23 new schools, 10 schools will be "feminised" and 19 relocated to other sites.

The Adec's Director General, Dr Mugheer khamis Al Khaili lauded keenness of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on education and training in the country.

He defined the Reorganisation Plan at a Press Conference held here today in Adec HQ, as part of the Abu Dhabi 2030 vision which includes creation of new schools that will help improve the students' academic achievements in line with the highest global levels by providing high quality education, and enable them perform to international standards.

He noted that Adec has finished all the related formalities and will begin the implementation process in September 2011, pointing out that students' parents and other concerned parties were made aware of these changes through field visits and meetings, and that Adec will provide all necessary information regarding the relocation of students and staff into their new schools.

Al Khaili reminded that the reason for school mergers is to close down the old, small schools that do not adhere to the health and safety standards, do not have high quality facilities and infrastructure, and relocate to modern schools that are equipped with all required facilities that are necessary to help improve the educational outcomes in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and serve the implementation of 2009 - 2018 Adec Strategy for the development of Education, launched last year.

He pointed out that the mergers will affect the low population schools by transferring the students to larger schools with high capacity, re-investing the savings that result from the closure of old schools in the Education upgrading programmes in order to cope with the NSM which requires dividing the students into groups to boost effective learning and group work, which is the reason why the classroom area has increased by around 75 per cent.

The merger operations present a greater, more effective support to Special Need Students as well as the gifted ones through the use of modern and well equipped facilities required by these categories of children.

The new schools where the children will be transferred to have those types of facilities and spaces that are needed for a better educational environment, in addition to the advanced infrastructure that participates in providing high quality teaching and a compelling learning environment.

The school reorganisation process was based on an exhaustive study that took into consideration all geographic and demographic factors to be in line with modern global education. The most important factors are: the geographic distribution of schools, i.e., the distance crossed by the student from home to school, the population of each area, the number of registered students in each school, the school's capacity, the actual and expected number of students, the present and expected school building's life span and if the architectural design of the school is appropriate for learning purposes, now and in the future.

The new school set-up also takes into account the concentration of the costs and spending in fully equipped schools covering all sides of the educational process and providing all the requirements of modern education, while avoiding any negative effects on residential areas or distant communities in rural zones as a result of the closure of some schools by providing all kinds of options to parents through availability and variety of schools.

Al Khaili assured that the school timings will remain unchanged and that the schools will strive to achieve excellence in education, fulfill the student's needs and improve the learning and teaching quality. "The new schools will combine specialized resources and teaching which will open new learning horizons for children, they also provide a progressive pathway towards Higher Education studies", added Al Khaili.

Speaking of the preparing the schools for this process, he continued the new schools will be larger in area and equipped with all necessary facilities to serve the modern educational process. It will have more complete facilities and high quality equipments to become a community focused school that serves the whole surrounding society. Thus, the school will provide a more comprehensive service to the whole community in the areas of culture, science, sports and social activities, such that all family members will enjoy the benefits of the new school setting, making learning always fun for the student.

The schools include all facilities to serve the educational process, such as swimming pools, sports halls and fully equipped libraries which will be open for all the local community members to use all year around. This way, everyone is a winner: students will enjoy high quality education and state of the art facilities, staff will be working in larger and better equipped schools in addition to the compelling learning environment that stimulates creativity and innovation, constituting a great shift in the quality of Education in our country.

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