Cautious welcome to school nationalisation plan

Plans for the nationalisation of private schools announced by Education Minister Humaid Mohammed Obeid Al Qattami have received a mixed response.

Some parents and school managements cautiously welcomed the move.

But many investors in the private sector-dominated education industry are keeping their fingers crossed as they wait to learn more details.

The minister told the Federal National Council that he would raise the issue with private school principals.

There are about 200 private schools in Dubai alone and across the UAE 474 private schools teach half a million students, including 84,000 nationals.

Sunny Varkey, Chairman of the Gems Group, which runs one of the largest network of private schools in the UAE, said the group could not make any comment without knowing the details of the plan.

Gems, one of the largest players in private education with more than 100 schools in and outside the UAE, has faced severe criticism from parents for arbitrarily increasing fees during the economic crisis.

The Gems network provides private education to 100,000 students from 125 countries and employs more than 7,000 education professionals, specialists and staff.

Other private school owners said they do not have details of the proposals. One said: "Until and unless the government gives more details we cannot make any comment on this subject."

Ram Buxani, former Chairman of the Indian School Dubai and President of Cosmos Group, welcomed the statement. "If a senior minister makes such a statement there must be some serious thought behind it," he said.

"We need to wait for further clarifications of the implementation strategy.

"Dubai is a place where education is mostly in private hands. In countries such as India most of the schools are run by the government or charitable institutions. There are advantages and disadvantages in both the systems and there is a need to maintain a balance."

He said private schools run purely for profit increased the cost of living for expatriate families. Indian School Dubai teaches 10,000 students and the fee structure is much lower than those of private schools. It works on a non-profit basis and the earnings are invested back into the school.

YA Raheem, former President of the Indian Association Sharjah, which runs one of the largest Indian community schools, said: "Indian School Sharjah has been providing education to thousands of Indian students for 32 years. We strictly follow the UAE's education rules, including the ministry's direction to include Arabic and Islamic studies in the syllabus."

Najeeb, the head of Gulf Model School in Dubai, said: "We don't know whether the government is planning to nationalise all private schools and give free education to expatriate students.

"Many Indian schools have low fee structures and upgrading all schools to a uniform standard would need huge investment, which not all private school managements can afford."

NV Surendran, Vice-Principal of New India Model School, said the school has been following the ministry's rules on the provision of Arabic and Islamic teaching.

"I don't know whether all private schools are following these rules. We are bound by the Ministry of Education's rules. However, introducing the government Arabic school syllabus for Indian students would make it tough for some who are weak in these subjects.

A parent whose children attend an Arabic private school said she would cautiously welcome privatisation because the quality of education in the government schools is not comparable with the standards in some private schools.

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