Public-private partnerships can ease demand

The increasing undersupply of school places in Abu Dhabi requires public-private partnerships

It's hard for the authorities to tackle the sudden spike in demand for schools in Abu Dhabi needs a . Delores Johnson / The National

The expanding workforce in the emirate of Abu Dhabi is putting great strain on the education system. As The National reported yesterday, Raha International school received 700 applicants for fewer than 88 places in its kindergarten year. That situation is also faced by many other schools operating at or close to capacity, leading to substantial waiting lists.

Several factors are driving this sudden rise in demand, including the decree that all Abu Dhabi government workers need to be live in the emirate and a series of new ventures, such as Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and NYU Abu Dhabi. This shows the difficult task faced by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) to ensure there is sufficient capacity at schools for the children of the emirate’s expatriate workforce.

One should have sympathy for Adec. Most countries get at least four years notice that a surge of births will lead to greater demand on school places. But with the UAE having a high percentage of expatriate workers, the population can rise suddenly and lead to infrastructure shortages, such as with school places. That unpredictability is amplified because new workers may or may not have children with them, and is made worse by the difficulty of predicting if they will need schools operating under the American, British, Indian or other education systems. Then, of course, no one can foretell what age the incoming children will be: kindergarten or Year 12?

Given this difficult background, how can the authorities best cope with fluctuating demand? There is no quick-fix, but one solution could be to explore the idea of having public-private partnerships that allow private schools greater flexibility to meet demand.

NYU Abu Dhabi, which has just opened its new campus on Saadiyat, is a good example of how this works. The facilities are provided by Abu Dhabi but the institution is run by New York University. This same model can also be applied to schools, where education providers now are often allocated land in Abu Dhabi to build new facilities. It seems this scheme might not be sufficient, but could be alleviated if the authorities were persuaded to build schools and then lease them to private education providers to run. Modest rental rates would help keep tuition costs affordable.

The best expatriate workforce will not be attracted to Abu Dhabi if they believe their children’s education will suffer. This makes public-private partnerships an investment by the government in the emirate’s future.