ABU DHABI // The capital's education authority has approved requests to open 47 private schools within the next two years - and is considering proposals for a further 57.
The Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) said yesterday that the British, American, Indian and Arabic curricula schools would create 60,000 school seats and up to 2,000 jobs. It also said that an additional 150,000 spaces would be created in the next 10 years by allowing certain schools to increase capacity.
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The announcements are likely to be welcomed by the capital's growing Indian community, where demand for school places is particularly acute.
Youssef Al Sheryani, the executive director of Private Education and Quality Assurance at Adec, said the council wanted to build the private education sector in the emirate.
"The strategy for developing education in Abu Dhabi is to provide equal opportunities for all students of the emirate to enjoy quality education at affordable costs," Mr Al Sheryani said.
Indian parents said they hoped a significant number of the new seats would be at CBSE-curriculum schools.
Demand for spaces at schools catering to the growing Indian community has been a long-standing issue in the capital. The problem was heightened by a lack of affordable options and Adec's decision to close all villa schools by 2013.
The private school operator Gems Education said it would open a purpose-built Indian school in the capital by April 2012.
"We have plans to open schools that cater to the needs of the diverse community, including the Indian expatriate populations," said a Gems spokesperson. "There are further schools in the pipeline which will depend on Adec approval."
According to the UK-based company ISC Research, the most popular private school curriculum in the UAE is the British curriculum.
In a report released in July, ISC Research said the British Curriculum was used in 52 per cent of private schools.
It said Indian (CBSE) and International Baccalaureate schools were also very popular.
Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, the deputy chief officer of Aldar Properties, the capital’s largest developer – which owns the school operator Aldar Academies – said most of its schools followed the British curriculum. “But we plan to bring new curricula like the IB and the American system to the capital as well,” he said.
He said as the number of families migrating to the emirate increased, there would be an urgent need to set up schools.
“The schools will cater to the needs of the city’s population and we are working closely with the authority to assess the situation.”
The Middle East has the fastest growing private international schools sector in the world, according to ISC Research.
Over the past two years, two thirds of the increase seen in the international education sector worldwide could be attributed to the Middle East.
Their research also suggests that the UAE has the most private schools in the Middle East and predicts that number will grow at an exponential rate in the next few years.
“The future will be dominated by for-profit international schools [that are] bilingual to varying degrees,” a spokesman for ISC Research said. “These schools will be located in residential communities with an increasing emphasis on local language and culture.”
According to Unesco, the UAE is among 49 countries with a “moderate” teacher gap – that is, by 2015 it will require an annual growth in teacher numbers of between 0.25 and 2.9 per cent in primary school teaching staff to meet demand.
Adec’s approval of 60,000 additional school seats in the next two years means there will be a guaranteed need for 1,714 teachers in the next two years (assuming class sizes are limited to 35 children per class).
“If schools plan well in advance, they will be able to find the best teachers from around the world,” said Sanjeev Verma, the chief executive at Intelligent Partners, a student services and teacher recruitment agency.
His agency has connected hundreds of teachers to schools in Dubai and Abu Dhabi this year and Mr Verma expects the numbers to grow. He said the UAE was a lucrative place for teachers to accept jobs.
“By and large, schools here are looking for teachers from the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK and New Zealand,” he said. “The job situation for many international teachers back home is unstable, so the UAE is an attractive choice.”
He said international schools offered competitive salaries, and the tax-free environment was an added benefit. Teachers at international schools earn an average of Dh12,000 to Dh14,000 a month and may also receive housing and children’s education benefits.
But Mr Verma added that schools here also had a high turnover. “Some teachers are young and only here for a brief experience before they move on,” he said. “And some teachers just lack awareness and, because of a lack of cultural orientation, cannot fit in.”
Aldar’s Mr Al Mubarak said his company recruited only licensed teachers with suitable qualifications. “We try to bring the best qualified teachers who adopt the methods here,” he said.
aahmed@thenational.ae
THE BIO:
Sabri Razouk, 74
Athlete and fitness trainer
Married, father of six
Favourite exercise: Bench press
Must-eat weekly meal: Steak with beans, carrots, broccoli, crust and corn
Power drink: A glass of yoghurt
Role model: Any good man
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Essentials
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes.
Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes.
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
360Vuz PROFILE
Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
Sector: Technology
Size: 21 employees
Funding: $7 million
Investors: Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, Plug and Play, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Levante v Real Mallorca (12am)
Leganes v Barcelona (4pm)
Real Betis v Valencia (7pm)
Granada v Atletico Madrid (9.30pm)
Sunday
Real Madrid v Real Sociedad (12am)
Espanyol v Getafe (3pm)
Osasuna v Athletic Bilbao (5pm)
Eibar v Alaves (7pm)
Villarreal v Celta Vigo (9.30pm)
Monday
Real Valladolid v Sevilla (12am)