Enrolment growth at Dubai private schools falls

DUBAI // Enrolment growth at Dubai’s private schools this academic year fell to nearly half what it was last year, according to the latest statistics released by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority.

The figures, released in an infographic Sunday, show that the 2014-2015 academic year saw a 4.7 per cent increase in student enrollment – or 11,493 new pupils enroll in the emirate’s private schools. This is a 3.6 per cent drop compared with last year’s figures, which showed Dubai’s private schools registered an 8.3 per cent increase in enrollment, accounting for about 18,616 new pupils. In all, there are 255,208 pupils attending Dubai’s private schools this year, compared to 243,715 last year.

The KHDA, the emirate’s private school regulator, attributes the drop in student enrollment growth to new kindergarten admittance policies issued by the Ministry of Education that took effect in September. The new policy increased the minimum age that students could enter kindergarten from 3 to 4 years of age.

With the new rule in place, there were 46,727 students who registered for kindergarten this academic year, an increase of just 514 pupils compared to 46,212 who signed up the year before. Kindergarteners make up 18 per cent of the student population this year. The number of students who registered for primary education increased to 107,528 from 101,971 last year. These students make up 42 per cent of the student body. The number of middle schoolers also went up to 64,347 from 60,708 and high schoolers, who make up 15 per cent of all students enrolled in Dubai’s private schools, went up to 36,607 from 34,824.

Eleven new schools opened this year, bringing the total number of private schools to 169, raising the number of seats available in schools to 292,301. The KHDA said in its report that 87 per cent of the seats have been filled. Schools rated as outstanding, good or acceptable have achieved the most capacity, filling 98.5 per cent, 95.3 per cent and 90.9 per cent of their seats, respectively. Unsatisfactory schools are 79.5 per cent at capacity, while schools that have not yet been inspected are at 42.3 per cent of their full capacity.

Schools offering an International Baccalaureate curriculum were the closest to being full, as they are at 93.3 per cent of their capacity. IB schools are followed by Indian-curriculum schools, which are 88.6 per cent full; British, which are 87.5 per cent capacity; American, which are at 86.1 capacity and other, which are at 84.8 per cent capacity.

British schools registered 33 per cent of the student population, followed by Indian schools, which signed up 31 per cent of the students and American, which enrolled 18 per cent. The remaining 18 per cent of students were enrolled in MoE, IB, SABIS, French and other curriculum schools.

Tuition fees charged range from Dh1,725 to Dh98,649 per year, accounting for Dh5.35 billion in annual revenues. A majority of the students – 61 per cent – paid more than Dh10,000 per year for their education.