Indian, Pakistani schools show little improvement: Dubai inspection report 2012-13

When announcing the inspection report for Indian and Pakistani schools today, Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) claimed that ratings remain unchanged since last year.

The findings revealed that little progress has been made in the overall performance of Indian-curriculum schools since 2011-12, mainly due to the schools’ inaccurate self-evaluation.

Improvement will surface only if accurate self-evaluation and timely investments are made, the experts noted.

Of the 23 Indian-curriculum schools inspected, only four schools evaluated themselves accurately, and in line with the grading given by the DSIB.

Fourteen schools evaluated their performance one level higher than the inspectors, while three schools rated themselves two levels higher.

According to the experts, schools that can accurately assess their strengths and weaknesses perform better and have stronger leadership than those which do not have a realistic view of their performance.

The schools were advised that better reports could be achieved if they focused on the data from past inspections and international assessments.

“Schools also have individual results from the latest cycle of TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study) and PIRLS (Progress in International Literacy Study). We encourage all school leaders to use this data to guide and inform their future action plans and look upon them as tools for further improvement,” elaborated Jameela Al Muhairi, DSIB chief.

“Most schools often tend to ignore the Kindergarten, and we encourage the school management to change this outlook. If they start making improvement at the youngest level, it will be reflected in the higher classes as well,” she noted.

The inspection report validated this point and observed that the few schools that did provide an outstanding quality of education to its Kindergarten students performed better in the leadership, teaching and curriculum inspections criteria.

Almost all Indian schools failed to identify and cater to students with special education needs. At 3,113 students with special education needs, it constitutes 5 percent of the total student population in Indian schools, which significantly lower than that of other international education systems.

One area that showed marked improvement was in relation with the teaching staff.

The report card indicated 67 percent improvement in teaching in schools, and their leadership was rated good or better. Where leadership was weak, teaching quality decreased by 71 percent, learning by 68 percent and student progress by 67 percent.

Students’ behaviour and learning attitude were rated outstanding in nearly two-thirds of all Indian-curriculum schools, the key findings showed.

Twenty-six schools with a total enrolment of 70,973 students were inspected in the 2012-13 cycle.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.