Indian schools put up good show in KHDA rating

Dubai - KHDA releases inspection 2017-18 report on Indian and Pakistani schools.

A total of 54,216 students out of 78,575 in Dubai are studying in either 'good', 'very good' or 'outstanding' Indian curriculum schools, it was revealed in the annual inspection report by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).
The 2017-18 Indian and Pakistani curriculum school inspection report by the KHDA was released, in which five Indian schools have improved in KHDA's ratings.
The ninth edition of the report showed that 31 Indian curriculum schools and two Pakistani curriculum schools were part of the inspection, while 3,439 lessons were observed and 8,027 students and 3,892 teachers surveyed.
Of the 31 Indian curriculum schools inspected in Dubai, one was rated outstanding, five very good, 12 good and 10 acceptable and three were found to be weak. None of the Indian curriculum schools were rated very weak.
"We are continuing to see year-on-year progress by Indian curriculum schools and more students than ever are attending good or better rated schools. Indian schools have shown a strong improving trend in TIMSS and PISA assessments and this correlates with the overall inspection findings," Dr Abdullah Al Karam, director-general of the KHDA, said.
"Their improvement in the performance on math, science, reading and other related skills reflects our emphasis on achieving national agenda goals leading to UAE Vision 2021. By improving provisioning for national agenda targets, Indian curricukum schools are directly contributing to the development of a first-rate education system."
However, one key area of development that was highlighted was Arabic and Islamic studies. Twenty seven per cent of schools were marked as weak in Arabic attainment, 14 per cent were weak in Arabic progress and one per cent weak in Islamic education.
"There are areas of development and Arabic and Islamic, to a certain extent, remain one of those areas, but schools are working towards meeting the needs in these areas. One of the areas is the quality of teachers. Certainly, the teachers would have the ability of pedagogy, how students learn a second language," Fatma Belrehif, the executive director of Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB), said. "It's different than a first language. For a first language, you have different sets of expectations. Arabic B (Arabic education for non-native speakers) has different sets of expectations.
"You don't want them to learn the language just for the sake of more words and synonyms in their dictionary, but for the application to daily life and functional use."
The report also showed that 77 per cent of schools, as compared to 58 per cent last year, were either 'meeting' or 'exceeding expectations' of achieving the National Agenda.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com

KT Nano Edit: Education and development
The development of a nation and growth of the education sector should go hand in hand. The KHDA inspection results, revealing a year on year progress in education standards, show that Dubai's growth is sustainable. It also proves that the inspections have brought about a positive effect on schools. It's time other emirates emulated such comprehensive inspections.

• Dubai