Classroom crisis as demand for places soars

IN DEMAND: As many as 10 pupils are competing for each place at some private schools in the UAE.

Nursery schools and private schools across the UAE are in the grip of a classroom crisis with as many as 10 pupils competing for each place.

With the new school year about to start, schools in Abu Dhabi and Dubai following curricula from a variety of countries are heavily oversubscribed, reported UAE daily The National on Tuesday.

Many schools filled their quota of vacancies for the new academic year earlier this year, leaving parents struggling for places or having to enrol their children at second or third-choice schools.

The American International School – Abu Dhabi (Aisa) has more than 500 children on its waiting list while even though the British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi has almost doubled in size, there is still a “significant” waiting list.

At Dubai College, the spokesman Graham Penson said 300 children took an entrance test for the 120 places in year seven and Our Own English High School, an Indian-curriculum school run by Global Education Management Systems (Gems), had about 3,000 applications for the 300 places available in the kindergarten earlier this year.

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