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Schools warned against flouting co-ed rules

"If they allow co-education in the mentioned grades, private schools will be asked to close down for violating the ministerial decision and the executive by-laws for private education in the country that ban co-education", Nadiya Mohsin Al Madi, Director of the Private Education Department at the Abu Dhabi Educational Zone (ADEZ), told Khaleej Times yesterday.

All private schools in the country should abide by the decision regulating private education system, she said. Schools breaching the by-laws will be initially warned and then asked to abide by the regulations.

Initial penalties will also include fines, boycott of all transactions of the school and if the violation recurred the school would be closed down.

"The motion, which is part of the educational system set by the country, falls in line with the Islamic values and deep-rooted traditions of the UAE society,” Madi explained. Concerning the salary structure of teachers in the private sector, Madi said schools' administrations should pay teachers a minimum monthly salary of not less than Dh2,000.

"A special committee has been set up at the Zone to oversee teachers' wages and report on the salary structure provided by private schools. The committee will forward violations to the authorities at the Ministry of Education and Youth to take joint action,” she said.

According to her, private schools should stick to a payment schedule that guarantees teachers regularly receive their salary on time and that the working hours for teaching staff should not exceed 24 hours per week. Madi noted that some private schools are still not committed to the specified minimum salary. Answering a question about measures undertaken to control excessive hike in school fees, she said that schools are not allowed to increase fees unless they get the approval of the Zone.

"The Zone has specified certain conditions for private schools with regard to hike in school fees. Under these conditions, schools will not get approval for a fees hike unless they can show that there has been no such increase in fees since the last three years,” Madi explained. She said applications for extra charges would be forwarded to the Licencing Department attached with a comprehensive report about the school to either sanction or reject the proposal.

She highlighted that the phenomenon of fee hike in private schools is currently on decline.

As for the curriculum, the official stressed that private and foreign schools should make it compulsory for national students to take up Islamic Studies and Arabic language as basic and fundamental subjects.

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