Schooling in Dubai

[Your Proxy]

When I arrived in Dubai a few years ago some of us had problems finding places in suitable schools for our children. It seems this is to be repeated again in the next 2 years when it comes to finding a place at a secondary school as a number of associates are currently having serious problems finding places in the limited number of appropriate schools. There simply do not seem to be enough places at the moment.

Are there more schools or places on the horizon in the next two years?

[White Knight]

GEMS apparently are to build five new secondary schools "soonish".....

[Your Proxy]

Yes I have heard similar stories but others say this will take a few years. Apparently this year alone, around 100 kids cannot find secondary schools - Whats the situation going to be like in two years time?

In the meantime some folks are being forced to send kids out of the country and in certain cases, the whole family is reluctantly being split up.

[FarFromHome]

In fact the situation regarding school entrance for kids starting secondary school September 04 in Dubai is at crisis point:

There are at least 90 kids without school places. Last year the number approached 30 and only the last minute opening of an additional class at JC prevented many kids from failing to start in September 03.

Options we are looking at include Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

Sharjah could potentially be done without moving - as long as you are willing to have the kids in a car &/- bus for 90 minutes prior to school start - at least the first 45 minutes is us getting over to Mirdiff for a 7am bus pickup. However most of the Sharjah schools (which we are finding are quite full in their own right) share the problems of the Indian schools mentioned below.

Abu Dhabi would really require moving. On the 777 fleet at the moment I guess it's a possibility, given the nature of our rosters. Company transport would be out. Another problem is rents for villas in AUH which supposedly far exceed the company allowance (not that DXB is far behind).

The Principal of one of the major secondary schools here recently presented me with a solution however : I enrol my child in Our Own English Speaking School, or Cambridge High, or St Mary's, or Choi Fat School for 2-3 years, at which time he was sure I'd be able to transfer our child across to JC or DC of whichever schools had places at that time. For those not in the know - these are the schools Indian families place their kids in over here - fees are less than half (in some cases a quarter) of the more traditional expat schools and teaching methods and conditions are a little less flexible and innovative – you get what you pay for. I won't belabour the point, suffice to say it's an option we won't be exercising.

I know of about a dozen EK pilots affected by this - but there are probably more, we are a big part of the expat community over here. While we are investigating Home Schooling, Boarding School (for our 11 year old!), SHJ and AUH - I personally can't see any of these solutions being acceptable.

The Company has finally told us to sit tight until the end of April, at which time they will pressure the schools into accepting our kids. The mechanism by which they are going to do this has not been detailed. As much as EK can swing pressure here (they do pay an awful lot of school fees) things are so tight here that short of building a new school - this is no answer.

Regarding this last point - JESS is building a new high school to associate with it's primary school - but that's years away. JPS is moving to bigger premises and will use the old premises as a Primary school. The bigger premises will provide more places for secondary students, but will not be ready for at least 2 years - and even if this were to happen now, it would not cope with anywhere near 90 students. King's College is planned to open in time for September - but will be primary school only for at least the first two years. Note that all of these changes in secondary school capacity speak of evolutionary changes, as opposed to the exceptional situation we are now in.

The Dubai Government has enforced fee fixation here for a number of years now - one would say that the influence Ek exerts over the government (let's face it - they are the government) would hardly have gone against this policy. Several secondary schools have contemplated expansion over the last few years as they have anticipated this shortfall for a while, but they do not feel in control of their financial destinies and have therefore elected not to expand. Thus the fixation of fees policy is coming home to roost. As expensive as high school fees are here (all sitting at the max of 40,000+ dhs/year - 11000 USD) the schools would make them significantly higher if they could. The American schools here get around this problem by charging the full 40K all the way from Primary entry and up, whereas other Primary-only schools are in the mid twenties.

Anyone coming here with children need to have a good solid look at school availability, and quality of education - this second issue being something we've been sorely disappointed with, but that's another issue!

[jack schidt]

Just to enforce the above, I am here with 3 kids and my 11 yr old is now without a place to move up to, having been in school for 2 yrs at JPS. The system sucks, is a total disgrace, Emirates should stop allowing people to come and fly their aircraft without ensuring the basic facilities are here as they would be at home. It is almost saddening to see the worry on your childs face when they don't know what will happen to them in Sep. Don't sign your contract or move over until you get the school place or you may want to be going home sooner than you think, HONEST.

[deepee]

Kia Ora All,there's an old saying in Education; "If you pay peanuts,you get monkies".It's all very well having a 'top' airline with all of it's trimmings, but hey where's all the supportive infrostructure??:( Oh dear it's back to the 19th Century:ok:

[druckmefunk]

Another important point here is that this was all predicted a couple of years ago, and well advertised on Pprune.

As is usual here, most of the posters who predicted doom and gloom were accused of being doomsayers and glass is half full types. I am in no way trying to say "I told you so" as i fully understand the predicament and sympathise.

What I am saying however, is that there is more than an element of truth to all the bad press EK has been getting recently.

So to all those who are on the outside looking in, please take note and make an informed decision, not one tinted by rose coloured glasses.

For many people coming to the desert, one of their reasons is that it provides a good family life. That is true for many. But I can tell you that the ones who have had to send their kids OS to boarding schools, or otherwise split up their family for education reasons, would not agree.

My advice to anyone who has options, is not to sign the contract until your kids have a confirmed school position that is to your satisfaction, and that you have been told where your accomodation is going to be. They are to two major factors that affect families here.

One thing that I have learned to be true of expat life, is that you must be content with what you start with, because there is very lilttle chance of improvement once you arrive, and significant chance that things will get worse.

dmf

[max AB]

The problem with delaying a contract signing is that a school cannot confirm you a place without you having a residence visa, you need to have a job to get that, you need to sign a contract....
A rock and a hard place...

[Your Proxy]

FarFromHome

Thanks for the informative post. Been away on leave so only just got back to it.

I agree with you on the questionable quality of education from some of the schools. Very average is my experience. While some claim stunning success rates this is not hard to do when you can skim the best and discard the rest as appears to be happening.

Besides exam pass rates are not everything. The concept of an all round education is often missing. The schools are not a patch on what is available at half the price in other countries.

Most extra curricular activities are the responsibility of the parents to source and fund (at huge expense) leaving mothers with the task of serious transport commitments every week. (Very undesirable on Dubai's roads)

Another consideration is the possibility of not being eligible for university grants back home when the child has not been in the home system.

For all these reasons sending the family home or leaving Dubai entirely is a very serious consideration.