Only by focusing on core subjects can we pass the test

The UAE needs to focus on core school subjects, writes Mohammed Fathi.

Improving education standards is part of the UAE's Vision 2021. Fatima Al Marzooqi/ The National.

The Government’s Vision 2021 plan defines education as a fundamental element in a nation’s development and the best investment in its youth. Only a first-rate education system will enable our students to compete with the best in the world, especially in core subjects such as English, mathematics and science.

More than 40 private schools in Dubai offer an international curriculum and Emirati enrolment in private schools has more than doubled in the past 10 years. Last March, a World Bank report confirmed this and many Emirati parents themselves say they are very willing to pay for quality education. An international curriculum is considered preferable because it prepares children well for the transition to higher education. As Jameela Al Muhairi, head of the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB), says, perhaps children at private schools have an edge because of the range and rigour of the international syllabus.

Statistics from the Ministry of Higher Education show that the number of Emirati students in higher education abroad has doubled in the past 10 years. We can do more. By strengthening the focus on the English language in our public schools, we will produce more capable students, more able to find employment both in the public and private sectors, at home or abroad. The ministry’s recent initiative to group grade 10 students by their performance in English, maths and science, to fill gaps as required and prevent gifted students from being held back, has already begun to pay off.

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the only international education survey to measure the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in OECD countries, ranks both Emirati and expatriate students low in science and maths. Although our students score better than those in some Arab countries, there is definitely room for improvement.

The good news is that enhancing educational competencies in schools now seems to be an achievable goal. There is a growing sense among public sector officials and parents that primary and secondary education has to be reformed. This has found resonance within the Federal National Council. The resources to do this are also available.

In his speech at the World Economic Forum in November, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and prime minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, drew upon the findings of a LinkedIn study on migration patterns of talent.

He highlighted the fact that the UAE is now at the very top of the list of OECD countries that attract talent. The abundance of opportunities in the UAE has triggered a “brain regain”, he said, rather than a brain drain. Talent that is nurtured in our public and private schools is returning to the UAE to work after a period of study abroad. This is a very different situation from just a few years ago, when such students would have sought employment elsewhere.

In 1975, according to the World Bank, literacy rates here were just above 50 per cent for adults and 60 per cent for young people. By 2005, those numbers had risen just over 90 per cent and 95 per cent respectively. Our government has displayed great ambition and willingness to expand the education system. There is more to be done.

As the World Bank’s March report suggested, more regulation of private and public education is required. The DSIB has been doing a good job to ensure that schools within the emirate achieve the standards set by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). In fact, the World Bank recently noted in a review that more than 50 per cent of the UAE’s students are now at schools with educational standards that comply with KHDA requirements. This is an advance on five years ago, when just 30 per cent studied in schools that met KHDA standards.

But we will know that we are getting where we want to go when our students achieve higher scores in international assessment tests such as PISA and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.

Mohammed Fathi is a research officer at Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government