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29 March 2024

Schools must guarantee child protection: Adec

Published
By Sneha May Francis

It’s shocking that despite numerous steps taken by schools and prominent leaders, we still hear of cases where students are abused, physically or mentally, by their peers, and sometimes even by their teachers.

But these sporadic cases are going to completely eliminated.

At least that’s what the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) hopes to achieve in the new academic year.

They have announced a set of regulations that should be adhered to by every private school in Abu Dhabi.

And, among a host of guidelines, a student’s protection is the most important.

“The school and its headmaster shall always guarantee students’ rights not to be subject to exploitation, violence, physical harm, sexual abuse, any verbal insult, moral threat or harm of any kind,” it read.

“The school must publish and implement a policy that aims to protect students from any form of these abuses.

It further explains how any suspected case of abuse must be promptly reported to the school headmaster.

“Should any such abuse take place, the headmaster shall abide by the student protection measures issued by the Council for this purpose, and shall suspend any school employee immediately should the said employee be accused of abusing any student.

“In the case of any violations of the student protection policy, the headmaster must inform the Council immediately and submit a written report to the Council within 24 hours of the occurrence or suspected occurrence of any such violations.”

The regulations were developed by the team from the Policy, Planning and Performance Management Division in the ADEC’s Private Schools and Quality Assurance Sector (PSQA).

It has been put together keeping in mind the best international practices in the field of education.

Among other topics – schools accreditation, school reports and other documents, fees, examinations, tests and assessment, attendance and absence, guardians’ involvement and family rights, Inspection and self-assessment and transportation were addressed.