UAE sets up new council to improve education

Education chiefs in the UAE have issued an order to set up a new council to drive educational improvements in the country.

Education Minister Humaid Al Qatami issued the order to establish the Education Zones' Development Council, which will be chaired by the minister.

The council is tasked to push forward educational development and attain improvements in quality, news agency WAM reported.

Commenting on the move, Al Qatami said that the ministry was looking forward to create "the qualitative shift in the educational process to match care attached by the UAE leadership to the education".

The move comes after an Arabian Business online poll found that one in three expat parents said they were planning to send their children home from the Gulf to be educated because the schooling on offer here was so poor.

A total of 40 percent of those replying to the poll said they wanted to send their children back to their home country to be educated because of the “dreadful” quality and high expense of schools in the region.

A further 53 percent of more than 400 responders felt the same about the standard and cost of schools, but added that they had no choice but to use the schools here.

Al Qatami said he was confident that the new council would create an "upswing in school community".

On Monday, it was also reported that almost four-fifths of schoolchildren in ther UAE had passed their final-year certificate.

Some 78.4 percent of Grade 12 students in UAE schools passed, although the overall figure – 62.6 percent – was dragged down by the results of mature students and home-schooled pupils.

The results include marks from exams taken last month and in December, as well as from coursework completed throughout the year.

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