DUBAI // Most schools were satisfied with the government inspections carried out for the first time this year, a survey released yesterday said.
Of the 82 principals who responded to the survey, 76 per cent rated the process as “good” or “very good”. One-hundred-eighty-nine of Dubai’s 220 schools have been inspected so far by the Dubai Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). Nearly 1,000 teachers also provided feedback.
Dr Abdulla al Karam, the director general of the KHDA, said his agency would use the surveys to improve the inspections for next year.
“We want parents, teachers and principals to be the agents of change rather than to be the subjects of change,” Mr al Karam said. “From the very inception of the School Inspection Bureau two and a half years ago, we have been very clear that everybody should participate.”
And the stakes are high: For the first time, the ability to increase tuition will be based on how well schools perform in inspections. “Outstanding” schools can raise their fees 15 per cent, while “unsatisfactory” schools are limited to a cap of seven per cent.
The first batch of results was released last month; and the remainder will be made public on May 17. Thirty-one Indian, Iranian and Pakistani schools have yet to be inspected.
Of the principals who responded, 40 were from private schools and 42 were from state schools. About eighty-five per cent of students in Dubai attend one of the emirate’s 138 private institutions.
Principals were asked to rate the inspections based on how they thought it would help their schools improve; 29 per cent of respondents gave the process “very good” marks while another 47 per cent rated it “good”.
“The KHDA have made enormous strides in the past couple of years, and they should take credit for what they’ve done,” said Rob Stokoe, the head teacher of the Jumeirah English Speaking School. He added that the government agency should be given credit for developing “a very good inspection framework”.
Some school operators and principals, however, worried that linking fee increases to inspection results could hurt education. Before, a universal fee cap had been imposed.
“The overall process hasn’t happened very well,” said one school administrator, who asked to remain anonymous.
“It’s a lot of ticks in boxes and I believe that as an inspection process is very shallow, and it produces shallow and probably incorrect conclusions.”
But the inspections, Mr al Karam noted, were still in their infancy: “any new system,” he said, “has to be improved and enhanced, from every side.”
One Dubai institution, the Universal American School, has petitioned the KHDA to reconsider its grade after being ranked “acceptable” by inspectors; the school’s director, Ray Taylor, contended in a letter to parents that “we believe that the current inspection regime does not accurately measure a school’s performance”.
The school is accredited through the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. No decision has been released in the case.
The survey was released as the country’s largest operator of private schools, Global Education Management Systems, (Gems) has aired several complaints about the decisions of the KHDA regarding the relocation of one of its Dubai Indian schools, and has made a public call for a higher-level review of the agency’ activities.
Kathryn Lewis