All villa schools in Abu Dhabi shut down

There will be no more villa schools in Abu Dhabi, announced the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) on Tuesday.

The last 72 villa schools, which accommodated 46,000 students, were also phased out.

This was part of Adec’s strategy plan to introduce safe and healthy school environments to school students. It was introduced in 2010.

“Phasing out villa schools was a priority project for Adec due to their non-compliant and unsafe residential facilities,” stressed Amal Al Qubaisi, Adec’s director general.

“Offering students space and room to move around helps them become more creative and innovative. The villa schools lacked well stocked libraries, science and IT labs, sports facilities, and specialist spaces for music, art and drama.

“Students who have relocated to purpose built school buildings are now receiving improved education due to the spacious atmosphere around them.”

Hamad Al Dhaheri, Adec’s PSQA executive director, explained that as a result of shutting down these villa schools, an additional 20,000 school seats have been offered to students across modern purpose built school facilities that offer different curricula’s.

“Adec implemented a fully-fledged program that took more than five years to complete with the help of a specialized workforce. The closure of villa schools has offered alternative options and choices for investors, as well as safe solutions for students and their parents who were reassured that their students study in safe environment,” he said.

 Dhaheri added Adec agreed to a minimal increase in school fees during the re-allocation process to purpose built school buildings, in order not to inconvenience and overburden parents, while assisting school investors/operators with their new projects.

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