Indian Schools Failing to Make Progress

More than six out of 10 young pupils in Indian curriculum schools are not receiving the minimum level of education Dubai's regulator, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), believes should be standard, according to the latest findings of the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB), its school inspection division.

During 2013-14, over 20% of children attended a Kindergarten within an Indian school. Of these, only 39% received education which was good or better; while 9,607 (61%) received acceptable or unsatisfactory provision. The KHDA has stated that a Good ranking should be the benchmark that all schools should attain.

The DSIB currently only rates KGs linked to a primary or secondary school, leaving 8/10 young children attending schools without an annual inspection report.

Including primary and secondary phases, Indian schools fare better. Of the 75,000 students attending inspected Indian curriculum schools, 41,240 (55%) were in good and outstanding schools compared to 37,589 in 2012-13, an increase of over 3,600 students. However, this is primarily because of an increase in the number of students, and not because of an increase in the number of good schools.

The proportion of schools judged to be outstanding and unsatisfactory has remained unchanged at eight percent since 2011. This accounts for two schools in each category. The two outstanding schools are Gems Modern Academy and the Indian High School.

The proportion judged to be good and acceptable has also remained largely unchanged with only one school being awarded a higher overall grade, from acceptable to good. That school is JSS International.

In total 28,468 (38%) student attend schools deemed acceptable, and nearly 5,000 attend unsatisfactory schools.

Sixty percent of the schools have remained acceptable or unsatisfactory since at least 2011, and as a result of increase in general student numbers, there are almost 500 more students in unsatisfactory schools than there were last year.

In total there are currently more than 243,000 students attending all private schools in Dubai. Around 75,000 students attend schools offering an Indian curriculum (approximately a third of all students) and about 3,300 students attend Pakistani curriculum schools (around 1.4%).

Currently there are only two private Pakistani schools operating within Dubai. One school achieved acceptable status in 2012-13 after having been graded unsatisfactory since inspections began in 2008. The remaining school continues to be unsatisfactory.

Most students in Indian curriculum schools follow the CBSE (Central Board for Secondary Education) curriculum. A few schools offer CBSE-I (Central Board for Secondary Education – International curriculum) in a few grades. A limited number offer the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE).

Students in Pakistani schools follow the National Curriculum of Pakistan.