New UAE school ratings have been released to give an indication of the quality of education in the country.
Sharjah’s Itqan program was launched to rate schools in the emirate and the results were announced at an event organised by the Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA), at University City Hall.
110 schools were reviewed across ten curricula and serving more than 181,000 students.
UAE school ratings
The study found 54 schools out of 110, representing 49 percent of those evaluated, provide good or better education.
The breakdown of the results revealed:
- One outstanding school
- Nine very good schools
- 44 good schools
- 53 acceptable” schools
- Three weak schools.
No school was ranked very weak.
The study also highlighted that 110,954 pupils who make 61 percent of the total pupil population in private schools, receive “good” or better education, while 177,709 pupils, a whopping 98 percent, receive at least an acceptable level of education.
During the review period, the six criteria of the Itqan programme and its seventeen indicators, which include seventy elements, were examined during thirteen educational weeks, in 440 days.
A total of UAE 17,500 lessons were viewed and watched, 880 meetings were held, and a questionnaire survey of parents was implemented, of which more than 65,000 responded to it, and reports were sent to all schools.
Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, witnessed the results of the Itqan programme for 2022- 2023
The event was organised by the Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA), at University City Hall.
Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed honoured the schools that placed first in evaluations of the Itqan programme and schools that increased by two levels in their classification compared to last year, which got a very good rating in the Arabic language.
Ali Ahmed Al Hosani, Director of SPEA, gave an overview of Itqan, indicating that the programme included specialised teams reviewing schools’ application of quality and performance standards.
He said that the programme operates according to six standards and seventeen performance indicators, and the evaluation process took place according to these criteria.
These include:
- Quality of pupils’ achievements
- Personal and social development of pupils and innovation skills
- Quality of teaching and evaluation processes
- Curriculum
- Quality of care, guidance and support provided to pupils
- Quality of school leadership and management
Al Hosani reviewed the programme’s statistics from October to March, explaining that the participation included 110 schools studying ten curricula, and includes more than 181,000 students.
Al Hosani presented a comparison of the results of the program between the previous and the current session.
The results indicate a significant improvement of 68 per cent in school performance compared to previous evaluations, as 91 per cent of the schools in the previous session received “acceptable”, “weak”, or “very weak” education.
Some 94 schools had ranked “weak” out of 102 evaluated at the time, while in the current evaluation, 97 percent of schools received “acceptable” or better, and 49 per cent received good or better education this year.
The number of schools providing good or better education has grown from eight to 53, while those offering acceptable or less education has dropped from 94 to 56.
In the previous evaluation, only 8 per cent ranked “good” or better, which has risen to 49 per cent in the current assessment.
In addition, all 26 “weak” or “very weak” schools improved, and five schools jumped two levels at once.
At the student level, the number of students receiving “good” or better education has increased from 25,000 to approximately 111,000 students.
