Abu Dhabi Will Open All-Girls And American-Curriculum Schools In 2016

Two new schools will open in Abu Dhabi next year, including an all-girls secondary school and an American-curriculum school, both of which are part of a planned expansion by Aldar Academies, reported The National UAE.

The new schools will take the academy’s total pupil population from nearly 5,000 to 9,300 and the girls’ secondary school will share a building that is currently under construction in the Al Mamoura neighborhood, which will house co-ed primary classes. The other location, on the west side of Yas Island, will be the first to open and will offer an American curriculum for the first time for students ages kindergarten to grade 12.

Aldar will offer the English national curriculum in the primary classes and the girls section will teach the international baccalaureate diploma program for students ages 12 and 13. According to Aldar Academies chairman Mohammed Al Mubarak, this is just a fraction of the new scholastic activity happening right now in Abu Dhabi.

“There’s a big number of schools opening up in Abu Dhabi – whether they’re coming internationally or being created nationally – and the focus of all-girls schooling has been quite minimal. We felt there was a demand in this field and we should be a pioneer.”

According to the Khaleej Times, Mubarak says the city of Abu Dhabi is growing and the new schools are part of concerted effort to create enough space for new students. The move is in response to an ongoing stream of phone calls from parents who are asking officials to accept their children in Aldar Academies locations throughout the city, but each of the six schools currently operated by Aldar Academies are over capacity at this time.

“The Abu Dhabi city is growing, and the only thing that saddens me is not having enough space for students,” writes Mubarak. “I get constant phone calls from parents, asking to accept their students in our schools. I can’t tell you the exact number, but our student waiting list is higher than in the hundreds.”

The Yas Island school curriculum will be based on the Massachusetts state curriculum in the U.S., which Mubarak says is ranked the highest among those offered in school systems throughout the United States. Aldar is also developing around 1,000 new villas on the island, along with retail facilities.

“Our student body is around 30 percent Emirati and 70 percent expatriate for over 100 nationalities and we aim to keep this number consistent.”

Both schools will charge fees that are in the medium-to-high range for the city, starting at around Dh40,000 (USD $10,900) per year, but the official rates of tuition have not been set. According to the Abu Dhabi Education Council, the city can expect to see a pupil population growth of around five percent each year, hitting around 280,000 by 2020, compared to approximately 230,000 students registered in 187 private schools this year.

“There are several things in the pipeline, everything from partnering with some of the best-brand schools from around the world to potentially bringing schools to Abu Dhabi, high high-quality boarding schools.”

The new Al Mamoura primary school will reportedly take in up to 500 students from the existing Al Mushrif School, which is a British primary school that is currently operating out the Al Bateen secondary school building. This will permit the Al Bateen School to expand to its full capacity of 1,300 secondary students.

According to Mubarak, Aldar Academies is also planning to update and refresh its existing curriculum of Arabic and Islamic studies.

“We don’t believe that the Arabic and Islamic curriculum that was taught 10 years ago should be taught today – it should be very, very different.”

[Photo by Dan Kitwood / Getty Images]