UAE Facing 'Teacher Shortage' Says Sabis Executive

Many schools in the UAE are currently facing teacher shortages.

Speaking at the Education Investment Mena conference in Dubai,Victor Saad, vice president and board member of Lebanon’s Sabis, the group running the International School of Choueifat, said staffing costs consume 70 percent of operating costs.

Saad went on to say, “There is a dependence on expats across the Middle East and North Africa region and there is a challenge of finding the right teacher, and that is leading to more investment in research and development in trying to create quality teachers."

Dubai employed almost 15,000 teachers in 2013 and this figure is expected to grow by over 8 percent annually. The GEMS group alone employed 1600 teachers this academic year.

Svava Bjarnason, principal education specialist for International Finance Corporation (IFC) said, “the quality of teachers is a problem that many of the operators are facing, and so you see a lot of them starting their own teacher training programme that meets the needs of the school network.”

“The salaries in the UAE for teachers go up on average by 5 to 6 per cent, the school fees are going up as well, the teachers are benefiting but the parents are suffering.” said Baber Khan, divisional manager at UK-based Worldteachers recruitment agency.

However, not all schools feel the same. According to a senior individual working for a premium school in Dubai they had 165 applicants for one position from the UK.  He said that if the conditions and pay are right there is no shortage of applicants.

Another challenge in attracting and retaining teachers is the increasing cost of living in the UAE. Khan says,“That’s the reason you don’t see the teachers staying beyond one to two years despite the high quality of life in Dubai."

Gulf Business recently quoted a whitepaper released by The Economic Intelligence Unit and commissioned by Friends Provident International (FPI), which maintained that the cost of living, specifically housing and education costs, adversely affect all UAE residents, not just teachers.

Marcus Gent, managing director, Middle East and rest of the world at FPI said: “Property rental prices in some areas of Dubai have risen 60 per cent over the last 12 months and some schools are proposing an increase in education fees of up to seven per cent this year.”

"School fees tend to increase dramatically at secondary school level – driven mostly by the salaries needed to attract the quality of teachers required,” the report added.

“Accordingly some expatriate families plan their UAE stay, and set career goals, in five- or 10-year periods to coincide with a move home, or to another country, when their children reach secondary school age.”