School Closure Shock For Ajman

Parents of 550 students in Ajman are currently scrambling for seats in the city, as the Ajman Education Authority closed their school earlier this week.

The Al Saad Private Indian School located in Al Rumailah area, apparently little more than a expanded villa, had been operating for a full year and a half without the necessary licenses from the Ajam Education Authority.

The school housed children from Kindergarten to Year four and is believed to have around 20 staff who have not received pay since December.

A spokesperson for the Ajman authorities said the school had "ignored all notices and warnings," in response they were forced to close the school, however provision was made to allow the students to register at other Indian curriculum schools in the city under the same fees as those imposed by Al Saad until the end of the Indian academic year.

Director of Ajman Educational Zone, Ali Hassan Al Hammadi told the Khaleej Times, “the school was essentially a villa. We send them several notices and warnings, all of which were ignored by the school administrators."

He went on to say, "since this is an emergency situation, we are not going to change the fees of the students. Two Indian schools- The Royal Academy and the East Point Indian International School will be accepting the students."

Parent Mustafa Nalukandatthil, said: "If the school had informed us about the notices, we would've looked for admission in other schools. They didn't tell us anything till the last minute. It is said that the school was given a final closure notice from the Ministry of Education during the first week of January. However, we were still not made aware of the notice and were greeted with a giant lock on the school doors on Thursday."