Emiratis 'Favour' U.S. Private Schooling

Emiratis are choosing to pay for a private education for their children over freely available public schools because of the quality of the education provided and the standard of English language taught. These are the key conclusions in a report carried out by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) titled ‘In search of a good education’.

Private schools are the favoured destination for children of Emirati parents in Dubai with 60 percent of children currently enrolled in school taking this route.

The multi-cultural and mixed-gender environment in private schools is also proving attractive to Emiratis, according to the study, but there is concern among many Emirati parents that children attending private schools will lose touch with their own culture.

In Abu Dhabi, 33 per cent of all Emirati pupils study at private schools and nearly a quarter of pupils in private schools have been Emirati, according to the 2012-2013 annual report released by the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s (ADEC) Private School and Quality Assurance Department.

In the 2012-2013 academic year, 49,004 pupils attended private schools with the greatest number of Emirati private school pupils, estimated at 21,390, enrolled at American curriculum schools. British curriculum schools come second with 9,342 Emirati pupils, while 8,816 pupils study at private schools offering the UAE Ministry of Education curriculum.

These figures broadly mirrored the KHDA findings for Dubai where 65% of Emirati students in private schools are enrolled in US curriculum schools, followed by UK curriculum schools and Ministry of Education (MoE) curriculum schools, each with 15% of the private school population. Just 5% of Emirati students attend schools with other curricula.