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09 October 2024

Why 87% of Indian school students in Dubai don’t get ‘outstanding’ education

Published
By Sneha May Francis

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority’s (KHDA) recent school report for Indian schools unveils some alarming stats – none more so than the fact that just one in eight of the 67,000 students have access to ‘outstanding’ education.

Among the other surprising findings hidden in the statistics is that a little less than half the student population in Indian schools is enrolled in ‘unsatisfactory’ or ‘acceptable’ schools.

Which would imply that despite paying top-dollar for their wards’ education, about half the parents have to contend with average or below-average education for their offspring.

Days after the education regulatory authority unveiled its school report card for Indian schools, Emirates 24|7 decided to put the Dubai School Inspection Bureau (DSIB) grading into perspective by looking at the number of students enrolled in these schools.

According to the published statistics, 8,511 students, or 12.7 per cent of the Indian schools’ population, are enrolled in the two Indian curriculum schools that have been graded as ‘outstanding’ by the KHDA. In effect, just one in eight schools attending the Indian curriculum schools in Dubai have access to outstanding education.

A substantial 43.7 per cent of the students go to ‘good’ Indian schools.

But what’s perhaps discomforting is that students attending ‘acceptable’ Indian schools stand at 37.4 per cent while those going to ‘unsatisfactory’ Indian schools is clocked at 6.2 per cent.

In effect, 29,181 students among the total 66,980 students attend schools graded average or below-average.

The total number of Indian schools that were reviewed by DSIB was 23, of which 2 are graded ‘unsatisfactory’, 12 are ‘acceptable’, 7 are ‘good’ and just 2 ‘otstanding’.

The school inspection report bears importance as it offers parents a guideline as to whether the education providers in the emirate are up to the mark.

It also gives a broad outline of the fee structure, and how much more they’d have to shell out.

Last year’s school grading came with a school fee hike, with 6 per cent allowed for ‘outstanding’ schools, 4.5 per cent for ‘good’, and 3 per cent for ‘satisfactory’ and ‘unsatisfactory’ schools.

The grading, however, has remained unchanged since last year.

Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General, KHDA, added that the fee-hike is not “automatic” and determined by the findings of the Educational Cost Index (ECI) that is published by the Dubai Statistics Centre.

“When the index comes in that’s when the hike, if any, will be determined,” he added.

Indian School                                                    Number of students on roll                        Rating

Dubai Modern High School                          2,804                                                                Outstanding

The Indian High School                                  5,707                                                              Outstanding

Delhi Private School Dubai                           3,274                                                               Good

Our Own English High School                      9,344                                                              Good

Our Own Indian School                                  3,657                                                              Good

Our Own High School                                     4,734                                                              Good

Rajagiri International School                        1,163                                                               Good

The Indian High School – Branch                4,266                                                               Good

The Millennium School                                  2,850                                                               Good

Buds Public School                                           682                                                                Acceptable

Emirates English Speaking School              1,680                                                              Acceptable

Global Indian International School            602                                                                     Acceptable

Gulf Indian High School                                 2,322                                                               Acceptable

JSS International School                                1,380                                                              Acceptable

JSS Private School                                            1,038                                                            Acceptable

Little Flowers English School                        725                                                                 Acceptable

New Indian Model School                            6,765                                                                 Acceptable

The Central School                                          2,789                                                              Acceptable

The Elite English School                                 1,066                                                              Acceptable

The Indian International School                 1,073                                                                  Acceptable

The Kindergarten Starters                            4,938                                                                 Acceptable

Crescent English School                                 1,432                                                             Unsatisfactory

Gulf Model School                                           2,689                                                                Unsatisfactory


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