More than 27,000 children attend Dubai nurseries amid enrolment surge

Growing number of parents choosing to send their children to the emirate's early childhood centres

A child and teacher at Canadian Kids Nursery in Dubai. Photo: Canadian Kids Nursery

More than 27,000 children are enrolled in nurseries in Dubai, with eight out of ten attending five days a week, official figures reveal.

A growing number of parents are choosing to send their children to the emirate's early childhood centres, which have recorded a 16 per cent rise in enrolment in the 2023/24 academic year.

Statistics released on Thursday by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority – Dubai's private education regulator – show 27,490 children attend early childhood centres.

The KHDA said 97 per cent of this number attend at least three days a week, with 86 per cent at nurseries four days a week and 79 per cent for five days each week.

This year, 25 new centres have opened in the emirate, bringing the total number to 274.

In January, The National reported that parents in Dubai were increasingly choosing to send their children to nurseries rather than hiring nannies to take care of them at home.

“Early childhood centres play a crucial role in nurturing our children during their formative years,” Aisha Miran, director general of KHDA said:

“Providing high quality early education is essential to support children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development, laying the foundation for lifelong success.

“Parents are becoming increasingly aware of their children’s developmental needs and the importance of early childhood education in meeting those needs.

“The continued growth in enrolment over the past year reflects the dedication of our early childhood centres to delivering top-tier education and the trust that parents place in these centres to offer rich and meaningful learning experiences for their children.

“Furthermore, results of international assessments consistently show that students who begin their learning journey earlier score higher in mathematics, science, and reading than their peers. ”

The expansion in nursery provision and surge in enrolment comes amid a continued population boom in Dubai.

The emirate's population crossed the 3.5 million mark in April 2022 and now stands at more than 3.74m, according to Dubai Statistic Centre's online population counter.

1,240 pupils with special education needs attend nurseries, while around two per cent of children attending nurseries are less than a year old, and another 13 per cent children are between one-two years of age.

The majority of children (69 per cent) enrolled at nurseries are between two and four years old.

In Dubai, parents can choose from a number of centres offering 16 curriculums from the UK being the most widely offered (215 centres), followed by the Montessori curriculum (20 centres), and US curriculum (eight centres).

The emirate also has a nursery following the Waldorf curriculum, a Swedish nursery, a Finnish one and a Russian one.

The main languages of instruction include English, Arabic, French, and Swedish, among others.