Abu Dhabi - The announcement comes after private school trips being temporarily suspended following complaints that the existing system requires excessive documentation.
Published: Sun 6 Mar 2016, 11:00 PM
Last updated: Mon 7 Mar 2016, 7:04 PM
From March 15, the emirate's 186 private schools may apply for school trips online, an easier and less bureaucratic procedure than the current one.
The Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) announced on Sunday that the new system will allow schools to submit their applications through Adec's portal throughout trimesters.
"The new online service is designed to promote a paperless work environment, assist schools to apply online and get prompt approvals on extracurricular activities, facilitate procedures related to submission of such applications and follow them up online," explained Eng. Hamad Al Dhaheri, Adec's Private Schools and Quality Assurance Executive Director.
The announcement comes after private school trips being temporarily suspended and also following some complaints from the schools that the existing system, introduced by Adec in January 2015, requires excessive documentation that has to be submitted months in advance, which makes organising school trips "highly discouraging".
"Since January last year, Adec began asking for ever more paperwork for school excursions, starting with students' passports and ID copies, risk analysis forms, no objection letters from parents, and then adding ever more requests," said SG, a private Abu Dhabi school administrator who wished to remain anonymous.
"Our students' safety is our utmost priority both on and off the school grounds and we do support proper organising of field trips, done safely and securely, with the parents' approval. But the requests from Adec made it highly challenging to organise such trips lately," she added.
What Adec wants>The new guidelines to ensure students' safety and parents' rights
> To avoid collection of unjustified fees
> Less paper work and bureaucratic procedure for extracurricular activities
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According to SG, since the end of February this year, all field trips were suspended altogether until further notice from Adec.
"We certainly hope that the new online application system Adec is promising will facilitate an easier and more accessible application format," she mentioned.
According to Adec, guidelines governing private school applications to conduct extra-curricular activities have been developed to enable schools to submit the required documents allowing relevant Adec teams to review such requests and communicate with concerned authorities to obtain the necessary approvals in light of the applicable bylaws and guidelines.
Prior to releasing these guidelines in January 2015, the Council's Private Schools and Quality Assurance Sector had met with a number of principals of private schools, activity coordinators and school leaderships, who operate a chain of schools in Abu Dhabi, to brief them on the proposed online system, review the new procedures and collect their feedback.
"Adec's guidelines seek to organise extra-curricular activities, ensure students' safety and security, and protect parents' rights," stressed Eng. Al Dhaheri.
"We have received a number of complaints from parents concerning individual cases of unacceptable practices, which include safety and security issues, collecting unjustified fees, as well as issues related to violation of UAE customs and traditions," he added.
The new service will be posted on Adec's portal in Arabic and English. Online technical assistance will be provided, while the new service manual will be sent to all schools.
The new service will also allow schools to request prompt approvals where necessary, as well as special requests.
silvia@khaleejtimes.com
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