ABU DHABI // The Abu Dhabi Education Council is encouraging investors to open more schools for early education, as kindergarten pupils comprise about 20 per cent of the private school population.
The regulator recently held a workshop for about 60 prospective and current investors on the business opportunities in the emirate’s education market.
It presented statistics for the 2016-2017 academic year, saying there were 191 private schools across Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region with 245,000 pupils in all, including about 45,000 who were in kindergarten.
“Due to Adec’s full support for investors and operators, more schools have been opening in the past few years, keeping up with student enrolments in private schools, which is expected to grow at an average rate of 5 per cent in the next few years,” said Dr Tareq Al Amiri, business development manager at the Private Schools and Quality Assurance Sector.
“The education market in Abu Dhabi has witnessed sustainable growth in the past few years due to investors becoming more familiar with current and future market needs, which is exactly what we’d like to achieve and witness here in Adec.”
Dr Al Amiri said this year Adec for the first time launched the “tailor-made investment workshop” to showcase the unique opportunities available.
“Our main aim is to keep investors updated on our framework, while guiding them on what exactly is required to start up a new school or refurbish an existing one, especially since we now encourage stand-alone kindergarten schools,” Dr Al Amiri said.
Mariam Saqer, executive director at Al Ain Educational Investment and a presenter at the workshop, said there was a “huge demand for kindergarten and/or foundation school students”.
Ms Saqer, who overseas operations at Sheikh Zayed Private Academy for Boys, said the school started out catering to younger pupils to meet the education needs of the early years population.
Khaled Al Junaibi, a prospective investor at the workshop, said he planned to open an American school in Al Ain next year that would initially cater to 1,300 pupils.
“I gained more knowledge about how to mitigate things with Adec and enhance our partnership to help benefit more students,” said Mr Al Junaibi.
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