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Tuesday, February 28, 2012 GULF NEWS

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Two Indian schools are outstanding

Dubai Although more In-dian pupils are getting bet-ter education now, with over 16,230 pupils attend-ing schools getting a bet-ter rating by Dubai’s edu-cation authority, the pace of improvement of Indian schools has slowed down significantly.

Officials have also de-cried that many children with special needs may be going under the radar at Indian schools.

A report based on the inspection of Indian and Pakistani schools in Dubai by the Knowledge and Hu-man Development Author-ity (KHDA) was made pub-lic yesterday, identifying key shortcomings in these schools. Out of the 21 Indian curriculum schools inspect-ed, two scored an outstand-ing rating, seven were rated good, 10 acceptable and two unsatisfactory

Two schools improved their rating from good to outstanding, while two declined, going from good to acceptabl,e and the re-maining retained their last year’s rating.

“Alarmingly, many chil-dren with special educa-tional needs may be going unnoticed at some of the Indian schools as these schools lack understand-ing of the definition of spe-cial needs in the broader sense,” Jameela Al Muhairi, Chief of the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) at KHDA, said yesterday.

“For instance, the princi-pal of a school with thou-sands of pupils told us there were four or five such children in the school.”

“But this turned out to be wrong as experts participat-ing in the inspection process identified more pupils dur-ing their interaction with the pupils,” she said.

“Schools should use DSIB guidelines to more effec-tively identify students who demonstrate learning dif-ficulties or require further challenges,” she urged.

Lack of effective support for students with special educational needs leads to them failing to make ex-pected progress and expe-riencing low self-esteem, the report says about less effective schools.

“Higher attaining stu-dents do not achieve their potential or make the progress of which they are capable,” it notes.

Specialist supportIn contrast, the best-per-

forming schools provide targeted specialist support and ensure teachers know how to plan for the range of learners.

The Indian High School and the Modern High School are the first two Indian schools to be rated outstanding.

Poor teaching, learning and assessment of Arabic, lack of good English teach-

ers, and narrow focus on success in exams, and lack of opportunities for the development of investi-gations, inquiry, research and critical thinking were identified as the shortcom-ings of some of the Indian schools.

Students lack independ-ence in their learning, not allowing them to make progress. Kindergarten teaching and curricula do not meet the learning needs and are not age-ap-propriate, and an unusu-ally high turnover of staff in a significant minority of schools were other areas of concerns raised.

“Progress in schools has slowed down a little,” Jameela said.

Dr Abdullah Al Karam, Director-General, KHDA, called on schools to form partnerships so that they can learn from each others’ experiences and enhance the quality of education.

About 35,428 Indian pu-pils (58.5 per cent) now attend’good’ or ‘outstand-ing’ schools.

sEVEN INsTITUTIONs RATED GOOD AND TEN ARE AccEpTAblE As khDA ANNOUNcEs RATINGsBy Rayeesa aBsal Staff Reporter

Laudable achievementStudents at Indian High School in Dubai. This school and Modern High School are the first two Indian institutions to be rated outstanding by the KHDA.AHMED RAMZAN/Gulf News

Ali & Sons Co. L.L.C.(Motor Division)

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TOp OF ThE hEApSchool Name 2011-2012 2010-2011 2009-2010 Curriculum

Dubai Modern High School Outstanding Good Good ICSE

The Indian High School Outstanding Good Good CBSE

Delhi Private School Good Good Good CBSE

Our Own English High School Good Good Good CBSE

Our Own High School Good Good Acceptable CBSE

Our Own Indian School Good Good Acceptable CBSE

Rajagiri International School Good Good Good CBSE

The Indian High School- Branch Good Good Good CBSE

The Millennium School Good Good Good CBSE

Crescent English School Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable CBSE

Emirates English Speaking School Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable CBSE

Global Indian International School Acceptable - - ICSE

Gulf Indian High School Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable CBSE

Gulf Model School Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable CBSE

JSS International School Acceptable Good - ICSE

New Indian Model School Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable CBSE

The Central School Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable CBSE

The Elite English School Acceptable Good Acceptable CBSE

The Kindergarten Starters Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable CBSE

Buds Public School Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory CBSE

Little Flowers English school Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory CBSE

Pakistani Schools 2011-2012 2010-2011 2009-2010 Curriculum

H.H. Shaikh Rashid Al Maktoum Pakistani School Unsatisfactory Acceptable Acceptable Pakistani

Al Farooq Pakistani Islamic School Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Pakistani

Pakistan Education Academy Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Pakistani

Dubai All three schools in the city offering the Pa-kistani curriculum were rated unsatisfactory by the education authorities in school inspections.

There are 3,211 students at these schools.

Officials said that there are fundamental weaknesses in these schools in relation to basic resources, teaching quality and leadership.

“School owners need to invest significant amounts of time, resources and expertise to improve the education for these students,” according to the KHDA report called Key Findings Indian and Pakistani School Inspection Results 2011-2012.

While two of the schools were rated unsatisfactory in all three rounds of school in-spections so far, one school had an acceptable rating in the past two years which fell to unsatisfactory this year.

“We are saddened by the situation in the Paki-stani schools,” Jameela Al Muhairi, Chief of Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) at KHDA, said.

“Unsatisfactory schools will be taken out of the reg-ular inspection cycle and will be visited every three months. We will give them our full support to help them improve.”

“However, we know from our high-performing schools that partnership is at the heart of making progress,” she added.

One striking feature of Pakistani schools is the positive desire of most stu-dents to learn and improve their lives through educa-tion, inspectors said. They noted all three schools have teachers with a strong commitment to improve.

“However, these teachers were rarely supported to do so,” the report said.

In particular, the schools face significant challenges in recruiting leaders and skilled experienced teach-ers. Governance in these schools was ineffective, resources were lacking and leadership was weak, it was found.

Poorly developed sys-tems for monitoring stu-dent attendance, poor com-munication with parents, overcrowded school buses, narrow curricula, poor or no support for those with special educational needs were some of the other shortcomings identified.

School owners urged to invest in resourceskhDA wants attention to be paid on expertiseBy Rayeesa aBsal Staff Reporter cO N c E r N

sTUDENTs spANkEDThe school inspection team at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) recently witnessed children being subjected to corporal punishment at one of the Pakistani curriculum schools, officials told Gulf News.

“Inappropriate measures are taken to discipline students. Due to this, relationships between students and teachers are often negative. And this results in poor behaviour and a lack of respect,” a report published yesterday by KHDA notes, addressing areas of concern in Pakistani schools.

Teachers at these schools are unaware of child protection issues, according to the report “We came across cases of spanking at a Pakistani school. Teachers in some of these schools need to be trained on behavioural management,” Fatima Belrahif of the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) at KHDA said.

— R.A.