Dubai: Seven Indian schools in Dubai have improved their overall performance during the academic year 2015-2016, the latest Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) inspection results of Indian schools in Dubai revealed.

The report also found that Arabic as a second language continues to be an area of concern, while students with disabilities were found to have better levels of progress in their learning and development.

Out of the 32 Indian schools in Dubai that cater to 78,716 students, 29 schools that account for 77,431 students were inspected during the academic year 2015-16.

Three Indian schools were awaiting inspections and four Indian schools are expected to open their doors for the first time this academic year.

Indian schools in Dubai account for 30 per cent of the total number of students in Dubai as there has been a significant increase of nine schools and 23,000 students since Indian curriculum schools were first inspected in 2009-2010.

The inspections this year revealed that two schools (attended by 9,478 students) have been rated outstanding, three schools (16,518 students) rated very good, 11 schools (26,148 students) rated good, 11 schools (20,912 students) were rated acceptable and two schools (4,375 students) were found to be weak.

Seven schools improved their overall ratings compared to last year.

Delhi Private School, GEMS Our Own English High School and the Millennium School improved from good to very good.

On the other hand, GEMS Our Own Indian School, The Kindergarten Starters, Ambassador School LLC and Ambassador Kindergarten LLC improved from acceptable to good.

None of the Indian curriculum schools declined in their overall judgements.

This year, all private schools in Dubai were inspected using the new UAE School Inspection Framework, which evaluates the quality of education provided on six levels — outstanding, very good, good, acceptable, weak and very weak.

Subjects

When it comes to subjects like English, Math and Science, the inspections found that there was an overall improvement compared to 2009-2010 when the inspections were launched.

There has been a marginal decrease, however, in the case of Arabic as a second language, as the percentage of good or better attainment went down from 13 per cent in 2009-2010 to 7 per cent during the academic year 2015-16.

The results for Indian curriculum schools marked a significant improvement over the performance observed in previous years, with 67 per cent of students (52,144) now attending schools that provide ‘good’ quality of education or have lifted their levels. This represents a significant improvement of 22 percentage points since the first round of inspections by the Dubai School Inspection Bureau (DSIB) in 2009-2010.

“Indian curriculum schools have witnessed significant improvements and school inspectors have observed gains in most aspects of school life, including teaching, learning skills, assessment, parental engagement, governance and leadership. The improvement in the quality of leadership at these schools has led to a better quality of education,” said Fatima Belrehif, Executive Director of the DSIB.

Students’ learning skills also improved as they were judged to be good or better in 62 per cent of lessons observed. This is a significant improvement from 29 per cent in 2009.

Furthermore, 63 per cent of lessons observed by the inspectors have been judged to be having good or better teaching this year compared to 26 per cent in 2009-2010. Also, 65 per cent of Indian curriculum schools now benefit from good or better leadership compared to 50 per cent during the first cycle of inspections.

The report also found that e 86 per cent of schools now enjoy good or outstanding links with parents and their local community, up from 50 per cent in the first cycle of inspections.

Special educational needs

This year, the inspections revealed that six schools improved their overall provision in terms of special educational needs and inclusiveness for students with disabilities, while one school declined in the quality of overall provisions against these requirements.

The number of students receiving good or better provision of special educational support increased by 77 per cent; last year, only 774 students were receiving good or better provision but that figure has increased to 1,370 this year.

Most importantly, students with special educational needs and disabilities are making better levels of progress in their learning and development. There is a marginal improvement of four percentage points in schools where students with special educational needs and disabilities make good or better progress, and the proportion of schools in which students make weak progress has decreased from 22 per cent to 14 per cent.

Pakistani schools

Pakistani schools in Dubai continue to underperform, the inspections found.

Currently there are only two schools in Dubai offering the Pakistani curriculum to 2,943 students.

Pakistan Educational Academy has remained acceptable for the last three years but the H.H. Shaikh Rashid Al Maktoum Pakistani School has failed to improve on its weak rating in the last five years.

The report read, “The overall picture for Pakistani curriculum schools in Dubai is less positive and remains a concern for KHDA.