Dubai school inspection report: Find out how your child’s school fees will change

The annual school inspection report card for all Dubai private schools are out.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) informed the improvement they’ve seen this year is the best yet, since the start of school inspections in the year 2008-09.

“This year, 61 per cent of students attending inspected schools are in schools that provide a good or better quality of education,” read the Dubai School Inspection Bureau (DSIB) inspection report. This is a marked improvement to the 30 per cent in 2008-09.

During the 2015-2016 academic year, 149 schools were inspected. These schools were responsible for educating 253,319 students, from Kindergarten to Grade 12. This is an increase of 40 schools and 119,888 students since private schools were first inspected by the DSIB in 2008-2009.

“DSIB ranked 16 schools are ‘outstanding’, 13 schools are ‘very good’, 57 schools are ‘good’, 56 schools are ‘acceptable’ and 7 schools are ‘weak’. “This year, no schools are in the ‘very weak’ category,” said Fatma Belrehif, Executive Director - DSIB.

“Twenty-eight schools improved their overall performance between 2014-15 and 2015-16,” the report highlighted.

Three schools moved up from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’ – they are Lycee Francais International Georges Pompidou School (Dubai Branch), Dubai International Academy, GEMS Royal Dubai School.

Twelve schools moved up from ‘good’ to ‘very good’ – they are Jebel Ali Primary School, Dubai English Speaking School, GEMS Wellington Primary School, Dubai British School, The School of Research Science, Delhi Private School, GEMS Our Own English High School, The Millennium School, Lycee Libanais Francophone Prive-Dubai, Deira International School, The Winchester School, and GEMS Wellington Academy (Branch).

Ten schools moved up from ‘acceptable’ to ‘good’ – They are GEMS Our Own Indian School, Dubai National School (branch), Al Mawakeb School, The Kindergarten Starters, United International Private School, Ambassador School, Russian International School, Al Basateen Private Nursery Hatta Branch, Ambassador Kindergarten, and Victory Heights Primary School.

Three schools moved from from ‘weak’ to ‘acceptable’ - Al Sadiq Islamic English School, Al Arqm Private School and New World School Private.

“Five schools declined in their overall performance between 2014-15 and 2015-16.”

Horizons English School moved down the ranks from ‘outstanding’ to ‘very good’. Mirdif Private School also dropped in ranking, and went from ‘good’ to ‘acceptable’. Three schools from ‘acceptable’ to ‘weak’ – They are International Academic School, Al Maaref Private School (LLC) and Dubai Arabian American Private School.

The number of schools inspected for the first time this year is 8, of which 4 are ranked ‘good’ and the other four ‘acceptable’.

A new category was introduced this year – ‘very good’ – “because it was a huge jump from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’. This new category will make the transition more realistic and achievable,” she added.

There are no schools in the 'very weak' category, but seven schools slip down to the 'weak' ranking. According to Fatma, the DSIB works closely with 'weak' schools and charts out a plan to improve.

Dr Abdulla Al Karam, director general of KHDA, said, "More than 20,000 students are now studying in better quality schools compared to last year and this is very significant improvement in Dubai's private education landscape."
 
Some significant findings

US-curriculum schools have made the least improvement since inspections started eight years ago.

“The performance of the different curriculum schools inspected this year shows a distinctive pattern. The majority of students attending schools that have adopted a French, IB, UK or Indian curriculum are in schools judged to be good or better overall,” the report read.

DSIB inspection findings clearly indicate that the quality of leadership of Dubai private schools has significantly improved since 2008-09. The prevalence of good or better leadership has increased by 18 percentage points while weak leadership has decreased by 11 percentage points.

Now, Dubai private schools are better placed to use the information from previous inspections and their own evaluations to plan for the future. Good or better self-evaluation has increased by 19 per cent while weak self-evaluation has decreased by 15 per cent.

Significantly more schools have been supported by effective governance since DSIB started inspections. Good or better governance has improved from 34 per cent in 2008-2009 to 58 per cent in 2015-2016. Weak governance, on the other hand, has decreased by 14 per cent.

The results for this year’s inspections indicate that 60 per cent of schools are now good or better in identifying students with SEND and their specific needs.
 
How much more will you pay for your child’s school?

Based on the ranking, schools can now increase the fees for the academic year 2016-17.

In February, the KHDA had announced that all private schools in Dubai can increase their fees based on their individual school grade and the Education Cost Index (ECI), which is set at 3.21 per cent.

According to the KHDA fee framework, schools rated 'outstanding' will be allowed to increase fees by 6.42 per cent, which is double the ECI.

'Very good' schools will be eligible for 5.61 per cent, which is 1.75 times the ECI; and, 'Good' schools will be allowed 4.81 per cent, which is 1.5 times the ECI.

The 'acceptable', 'weak' and 'very weak' will be allowed to increase by 3.21 per cent.

To read the full report, visit www.khda.gov.ae

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