Dubai's Pakistani School Faces Closure Again

His Highness Sheikh Rashid Al Maktoum Pakistan School Dubai’s future looks uncertain once again, after the recent KHDA inspection results found the school to be Weak.

The 1,500 student school has now been warned to resolve the problems or face closure.

The KHDA has found the school to be Weak for the past six inspections.

According to a report in UAE newspaper, The National, school director and sponsor, Dr Muhammad Haris Shah, said, the "KHDA is worried about our school performance and informed me that any school in Dubai that fails to achieve the goals of Agenda 2021 will ultimately be going towards a closing position."

According to KHDA the school had a 44 percent teacher turnover in the past year, while inspectors found, “the school does not know its National Agenda targets and does not have the TIMSS 2011 and PISA 2012 reports. In the primary and middle phases there are no international benchmark data to measure attainment against international standards. National Pakistan board examinations (FBISE) show variable results. Overall, in high school, students’ attainment is weak in science, and acceptable in English and mathematics.”

The 2016/17 report found the majority of the school's core subjects to be Acceptable, while care and support, assessment and teaching and learning all fell below this level.

Dr Shah said changes are planned at the beleaguered school, "we are going to change our school leadership, [which has been] unable to deliver such goals. We are going to replace unqualified teachers with qualified ones. However, for all this, we need money, which we don’t have. Whatever current resources we have we are using to improve the safety and security of the school, safety and security of our schoolkids on our school transport," he said.

The school hit the headlines back in 2015, when urgent building repairs, tens of thousands in defaulted fees and low teacher salaries meant the school was destined for closure.

However, at the time, the Pakistani Consulate came to the rescue, repairing the building and increasing teacher salaries by 15 percent.

In November 2016, the newly appointed Pakistani Ambassador Moazzam Ahmad Khan vowed to “develop the Pakistani education sector," which has across the UAE, consistently  under-performed.

However, according to Dr Shah, one of the biggest issues with the school is too much involvement by the Pakistani consulate, as well as a continued lack of financial resources.

He continued, "at the moment, the outstanding due towards students is Dhs 955,262, which includes both fee defaulters who have left the school and those who are attending the school but are not paying fees. The school fee ranges from between Dh250 to Dh400 per month, which is the lowest in Dubai."