ABU DHABI // A school in Abu Dhabi is to be shut down after a little girl died on one of its buses.
The regulator, Abu Dhabi Education Council, on Monday ordered Al Worood Academy Private School to close its doors at the end of August next year, when its operating licence will be revoked.
The school will be “under the financial and administrative supervision” of the regulator until then.
“The school shall cooperate with Adec or any agency or person representing Adec in matters related to conducting the school’s business until the school’s licence is revoked,” Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, Adec’s general manager, says in the closure order.
“This includes, for example, offering full support to transfer existing students to other schools and non-prejudice to the acquired rights of others.”
The closure will leave hundreds of families scrambling to find new school places for their children in a system that is already stretched to the limit.
Al Worood, which was founded in 1982, has about 2,200 pupils in primary and secondary education.
Fifty-nine per cent of the children are UAE nationals and the remainder mostly Muslim Arab expatriates.
The school has two libraries, three computer laboratories, six science laboratories, music rooms, a gymnasium, a stage, a small artificial-turf football pitch and a separate play area for kindergarten pupils.
Despite its facilities, the school has rated poorly in Adec inspections.
It received a C grade in a report on private schools released this year, which means its performance was rated unsatisfactory, very unsatisfactory or poor, and was deemed “in need of significant improvement”.
Al Worood is considered a medium-priced school, according to the Adec report. These schools have fees ranging Dh14,001 to Dh21,000.
Annual school fees for this year at Al Worood ranged from Dh14,193 for KG1 to Dh31,448 for Grade 12.
Adec officials said on Monday they were not permitted to comment on the school’s closure. The school itself declined to do so.
Nizaha Aalaa, 3, died after she was left alone on an Al Worood school bus on October 7. Further reporting of the incident has been prohibited on the orders of the Attorney General.
lcarroll@thenational.ae
