Abu Dhabi: UAE nationals are taking the lead in the capital’s public schools as they now represent 52 per cent or 7.100 of all educators, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) announced today (Saturday).

Around 185 Emirati men and women have been newly hired as teachers and the Adec has announced plans to bring even more on board.

Five school principals have also been employed, six have been promoted, 16 vice-principals are currently being added to the team and 14 others have also been placed in higher positions — all of whom are UAE nationals.

This year’s initiatives reflect a five per cent increase in the number of Emiratis performing educational roles in the capital’s public schools and 81 per cent of these in supervising positions.

The Adec has also announced that it had hired 678 expat teachers.

Meanwhile, student enrolment in the new Al Falah area’s schools have been completed and the total number of pupils currently listed for the upcoming academic year has reached 11,173 in public schools.

In response to Emiratis’ requests, the opportunity for accepting new students will once again be open from August 23 to September 7 and the council expects this to bring about an additional 1,500 new students.

In an e-mail from Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, Director of Adec, she welcomed all educators and administrators to their roles, urging them to achieve discipline at work and during school hours and to communicate with pupils and their parents in all the ways necessary.

The Adec has also recently announced the opening of 10 new schools, of which five are in the capital city and five in Al Ain. These include Hamdan Bin Zayed School, Rooh Al Ittihad School and Umm Al Arab School which can host 2,100 students each. Additionally, Yas School with a capacity of 2,000 and Al Samaliya School for 1,260 students are located in Abu Dhabi city.

Meanwhile, Al Ain is now home to Al Jood School and Nema kindergarten and cycle one School, both of which can handle 1,410 students alongside Maseerah School (1.000 students), Mohammad Bin Khalid School (1,250) and Shaikha Bint Surour School which can host 1,250 pupils.

All ten new institutions are under the umbrella of the Future Schools Project which has adopted sustainability standards in saving on energy for air conditioning and water.

Finally, the Adec has also completed maintenance in 79 public schools.

The administrative and educational authorities in Abu Dhabi will resume working tomorrow after preparations and equipment have been set up to welcome the upcoming 2015-2016 academic year.

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) revealed that all 15,000 individuals overseen by the council are distributed among 255 schools, of which 120 are in the city, 104 in Al Ain and 31 in the Western Region. The teachers, instructors, administrators and other staff will all be stationed at their corresponding facilities to welcome students on August 30 as the school year begins.