Ontario International Canadian School to Close

By David Westley

First Published:

Saturday 29 June, 2019

Updated:

Sunday 30 June, 2019

The Ontario International Canadian School (OICS), based in Mirdiff, is seeking KHDA approval to close, saying it does not have the ability to fund itself past June 30th. The only Canadian curriculum school in Dubai has been operational for five years.

Partly as a result of a third Acceptable rating in a row in 2018/19, the school has had difficulty growing beyond 200 students, an insufficient number for the school to break even financially. The school has a healthy number of employees: 28 teachers, almost all trained and certified in Ontario, and an additional 20 support staff. All of the school's employees will be made redundant upon its closure.

In a letter, the school's owner, Hasnain Dar, told parents that he wrote to them with "a very heavy heart", and that "nothing was more to him "than your child's future".

"I have continuously been engaged in discussions with the KHDA regarding the future of OICS. However it is only fair for me to share with you that regardless of the ultimate outcome in the coming days the school does not have the financial support to continue beyond 30th June 2019. "

Clearly the leadership team has been busy looking for solutions for parents: "As part of our effort for this smooth transition, we have asked Kings’ Education to honour the OICS fee structure for the next two academic years for any students who wish to transfer to Kings’ Schools.

"Academic and admissions teams from Kings’ Education have been based at OICS over the past two days and I understand many of you have been keen to meet with Kings’ and have taken the next steps to view the schools and consider them as a possible option for your children’s education."