Schools evaluated on special needs

Schools are to be evaluated by Dubai's education authority, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority on their ability to cater for pupils with special needs.

DUBAI // Schools are to be evaluated on their ability to cater for pupils with special needs. The new evaluations are part of the third annual schools inspection by Dubai's education authority, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). During the campaign, which began yesterday, 104 private schools will be inspected between October and December. Another 112 schools, including public schools, will be inspected between January and April.

Schools will be categorised as Outstanding, Good, Acceptable and Unsatisfactory. Other than special needs support, areas of focus this year include physical education and Arabic as a first or second language. Jameela al Muhairi, the chief of the Dubai Schools Inspections Bureau (DSIB), said the guidelines for this year's inspections were based on last year's findings, which were made available to school principals in July.

Dr Abdulla al Karam, the director general of KHDA, expects the emphasis on special needs and physical education to put pressure on schools to analyse their current practices. "This will create public debate about how these issues need to be tackled," he said. Last year's inspection found special educational needs - particularly for development disorders such as dyslexia - were not being met in most schools.

According to the 2009/2010 DSIB annual report, many parents of children with learning difficulties struggle to find schools. Inspectors said schools claiming to offer special needs education services were not all adequately equipped to do so. "In many cases, referrals to specialists - such as educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and physiotherapists - are dependent upon the parents' ability to pay additional fees. Referrals are irregular and the information they produce is seldom used systematically," the report said.

Having a special-needs inclusion policy is the best practice, said Ms al Muhairi. That is why schools will be evaluated on their learning support programmes this year. "Every school has students with special needs," said Ms al Muhairi. "Our expert inspectors will see what support mechanisms are in place for them."

Carolina Tovar, the director of the Child Early Intervention Medical Centre, which works with autistic children, said the emphasis on special needs education would give more pupils the chance to be placed in mainstream schools.

* Afshan Ahmed

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The autistic child has been out of school for two years, and last month he was accepted by a school in Dubai, but only to attend one two-hour class a day.

"I've tried everywhere," said his father. "He has been at home doing nothing, so when the school agreed to take him – even for two hours in certain subjects – I had to accept."

Mr Ahmed's ordeal in finding a school to support special needs education is not uncommon.

Even when a school does open its doors to students with special needs, the quality of teaching is often questionable, said Nikhat Sahai, a legal consultant who provides learning support to a seven-year-old child in her spare time.

"This child is intelligent, but needs individual attention and some speech therapy that is not being adequately offered at his school," she said.

Ms Sahai said the child has moved schools several times this year.

"The school may agree to admit children with special education needs, but halfway through they inform the parents that they cannot support him anymore," she said.

A parent who spoke on condition of anonymity, has a similar story. Her son, who needs occupational therapy, has been in and out of schools over the past year. "There were no qualified teachers to pay attention to his problem, and that was more damaging," she said.

Now, her 10-year-old is at a different school, but she fears it will not be long before he is asked to leave again.

"There is no secure place at any school here," she said. "I could be asked to take him out any day, and this is a constant worry."

* Afshan Ahmed