Seventeen schools to open in Abu Dhabi by 2018

ABU DHABI // Seventeen private schools, including two all-girls institutes, are expected to open in the emirate over the next two years, and between them they will enrol 24,000 pupils.

Abu Dhabi Education Council said the schools would help to meet rising demand, as the student population is growing at about 5 per cent a year and is expected to reach 283,798 by 2020. This year, there are 236,800 pupils studying in 186 private schools.

“The private sector has been a major strategic partner for Adec and we work together to provide students with opportunities, access, quality and different options,” said Hamad Al Dhaheri, Adec’s executive director of private schools and quality assurance.

“That partnership resulted in building more than 56 schools over the past five years and adding more than 70,000 seats, with investments exceeding Dh3 billion.”

He said British, American and Indian curriculums were parents’ most requested education systems, but other curriculums were also in demand.

There was also a growing interest in all-girls schools in some communities, said Tareq Al Ameri, Adec’s business development manager.

For example, Liwa International School is opening the first private all-girls school in Al Ain for kindergarteners to Grade 10. The US-curriculum school will expand to Grade 12 in the future and will eventually have capacity for 1,000 pupils.

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