UAE Girls Outperform Boys - At Dropping Out

Girls are getting increasingly used to beating the boys in academic league tables, but one ranking they wish they were not top of is the school drop out league. And yet, according to information reported in Al Ittihad, citing Ministry of Education statistics, the number of girls dropping out of UAE public schools within the UAE in 2013/14 was almost double the number of boys.

The drop out rate in the last academic year was 0.6% - of the total 239,000 students studying in public schools, 1,600 pupils dropped out across the country.

Of that number, 1,198 were girls leaving school compared with just 460 boys. The figures are in contrast to previous years where the majority of school leavers were boys.

A 2011 study by Knowledge and Human Development Authority linked the high percentage of male drop outs with the low quality of education in UAE schools. "The current structure and ethos in UAE public schools does not satisfactorily challenge students with a rigorous and engaging curriculum that is relevant to their everyday lives.”

This will be one reason for the growth in the number of Emirati students studying in the private sector. Around 28,000 Emiratis in Dubai alone are now in private schools - 4,000 more than in 2008.

Girls did outperform boys on the slightly less worrying list of having to repeat a year. Some 3,764 pupils needed to do so, of which 2,630 were boys and 1,134 girls. Of these 1,518 failed in grades six to nine, or the second cycle, and 2,246 were high schoolers.

Figures are not available for the UAE's private schools.