ADEC has announced that schools ranked Weak or Very Weak will not be permitted to admit new students in September.
The ban will be lifted when the schools reach the rank of Acceptable the agency said last week.
Weak schools are rated by the agency to be performing lower than the standards expected by the UAE, and Very Weak are considered, 'significantly below this.'
Of the schools inspected this cycle and considered to be Weak/Very Weak, seven are in Abu Dhabi, 11 in Al Ain and a further five in Al Dhafra region.
The schools ranked Weak are: Crescent International Private School, Abdulla bin Zubair Private School, Al Sorouh Private School, Grace Valley Indian School, Bright Riders Branch 1, Sunflower PrivateSchool, Manar Al Ilm Al Gharbia School and Aliaa International School, Emirates National School Al Nahyan, Modern Private School, Al Ain English Speaking School, Darul Huda Islamic School, Indian Private School, Ibn Khaldoun Islamic Private School, Dar Al Uloom Private School, Asian International Private School (Rowais), Adnoc School (Madinat Zayed) and Global English Private School.
Those ranked Very Weak are: United School of Baniyas, Al Marfaa International Private School and Al Tharawat Private School.
ADEC told The National it was working toward improvement with the schools via mentoring, sharing best practice and allowing access to professional development.
ADEC inspectors work on a two year cycle, meaning the Weak/Very Weak schools now have two years to improve their offering.