ABU DHABI — Scores of Indian students and their parents are in a quandary with the Abu Dhabi Education Zone rejecting their requests for transfer of students saying these schools already have the maximum number of students in each classroom.
These students had sought transfer either from one school to another within the emirate of Abu Dhabi or from a school in another emirate to a school in Abu Dhabi.
They were placed on the waiting list since there were no seats available for these students.
The ADEZ has now rejected their transfer requests because the classrooms of the schools already have the maximum number of students.
Khaleej Times has learnt that several grade 11 and grade 12 students could not find vacant seats at the Indian schools when the term commenced on April 1.
Complaints aplenty
Sources at the Ministry of Education (MoE) said the Private Education Department at the ministry last week received many complaints from parents to find a solution to their problems as they could not find vacant places at seven Indian schools in Abu Dhabi city and Mussafah area.
Administration officials of some of these schools said that they did not have any waiting lists while the other schools said they have not received any applications for transfer of students to their schools.
“At least 100 students could not find seats in schools in Abu Dhabi as on April 1. The parents do not know what they should do now,” sources in the MoE said.
No space, no way
Nadya Maddi, deputy director of Private and Quality Teaching at ADEZ, told this reporter that the private schools have limited space. “Increasing the number of students in the classes is not acceptable.
“The problem is with the students as they did not pass the admission test to enrol in the science section, while the parents wanted their sons and daughters to take up science as the main subject. Hence, we cannot do anything without the MoE’s approval.”
She stressed that the schools must abide by the ADEZ and MoE instructions to limit the number of students in a classroom to 30. In case of violations, the ADEZ reports them to the MoE to fix the fines.
More classrooms
oConfirming the situation, Vijay Mathu, Principal of Abu Dhabi Indian School (ADIS), explained that the school has very limited vacant seats (about 5) in each section.
“ADIS is ready to take in two students more in each classroom in case the MoE approved this step,” said Mathu.
He said in November each year, the ADIS’s administration sends circulars to the parents informing them about the seats falling vacant in the next academic year to help them decide on their other children who might be studying in other schools.
“Every academic year, there would be vacancies because some students would join other schools in other emirates due to the relocation of their parents or travel to their homelands,” said Mathu.
He noted that the ADIS always gives preference to the parents whose children study in the school. “After that, if there are still vacancies, we would entertain applications from other parents.”
He suggested opening of new classrooms at the schools to enable them to enrol more students in different grades.
It’s a lottery
With the current limited space, the number of students on waiting lists is going to rise from year to year. The schools want to create new ways to handle the rush in the beginning of every academic year.
The ADIS administration created a lottery system to enrol the students to different grades. Otherwise, students of grade 10 and 11 must pass the admission tests with 60-65 per cent marks before the lottery.
“We have created a link on our web site — www.adisuae.com — to print the application and take a number to enter the lottery,” said Mathu.
Mathu said ADIS is ready to enrol two students more in each class from KG to grade 12 in case the authorities concerned (Abu Dhabi Education Zone and the Ministry of Education) approve it.
This year, ADIS received 153 applications from parents whose children are on waiting lists. More than 40 of them passed the admission test. “We cannot accept any student who had not passed the admission test because they are not qualified to enrol in the Science section,” Mathu said.
Using it as a ‘fence’
Meanwhile, parents alleged that the administrations of some schools are using the admission test as ‘a fence’ to keep away a large number of the students on the waiting lists.
By Ahmed Abdul Aziz (Our staff reporter)