DUBAI // A Pakistani school that has undergone Dh300,000 worth of improvements is hopeful of a brighter future.
The 20-year-old Sheikh Rashid Al Maktoum Pakistani School in Al Qusais was in urgent need of renovation.
As well as regeneration of the building itself, staff have received a 15 per cent pay rise and new teaching techniques are to be introduced.
Now the new principal hopes the improvements will be reflected in better education for the school’s 1,400 boys and girls aged 4 to 18.
“The school has had an unsatisfactory rating from the KHDA [Dubai’s education regulator] for the last four years, but hopefully now we can have a fresh start,” said principal Ahktar Waqqas, who was appointed last month.
“The KHDA gave us a list of about 14 things we needed to fix regarding the maintenance and, over the last month or so, we have been working to get everything done,” he said.
The school, which opened its doors in 1995, is a not-for-profit institute run and paid for by the Pakistan government, though tuition fees are levied and used to help run the school.
“The funding for the work we needed to do came from the Pakistan consulate and, as a result, we had to get all the documents and information to them,” he said.
“We had to do a lot of running around to get the best price as well and at times had as many as three vendors working on different areas of the school at the same time.”
Among the recommendations made by the KHDA was for a new canopy to be installed over the boys’ playground area.
“We were getting quotes of as high as Dh113,000 and Dh75,000 but, eventually, found one who will do the work for Dh35,000 using the same materials as the highest quoted price,” he said.
The improvements include new tiles on stairways, renovated bathrooms resurfacing of the boys’ playground and safe tiles for the nursery play area.
“The KHDA highlighted that the tiles on staircases were slippery so we have replaced them as well as repaired cracked wall tiles,” Mr Waqqas said.
“Another issue we had was that the bathrooms were leaking water down into rooms below.”
It meant a function room directly below them could not be used, but work has been done to address the issue in two of the school’s four bathrooms.
“We also had numerous smaller things to sort out, including fixing lighting and although the vast majority of the work has been done we are just finishing up the last few remaining bits,” he said.
Although the school has partially opened to pupils this week, most of the children are expected to return on Sunday, after the spring break.
To improve the quality of education for the pupils, consultants from Oxford University Press have been brought in to assess and train teachers.
“We have set up cameras and microphones in classrooms so that the consultants can see how the children are being taught and look at ways of improving it,” said Mr Waqqas, a management expert brought in by the Pakistan consulate.
New technology will also be introduced in the coming months, with staff and pupils eventually being given tablet computers.
Mr Waqqas replaced Dr Abdur Bangash, who resigned last month after three years as principal.
According to Mr Bangash, many parents default on their tuition fees and the school is owed almost half a million dirhams.
However, Mr Waqqas is hopeful there will be an improvement in the quality of education in the coming months.
“Many of the teaching staff were on between Dh2,300 and Dh3,800 a month and I felt it was vital they got better salaries,” he said.
“Fortunately, the consulate has been very receptive to our requests and they have granted our staff a 15 per cent increase.”
He is confident that with improved morale, better facilities and new teaching methods the quality of education will significantly improve.
“My philosophy is simple and that is we don’t leave any student behind,” he said.
“I am very confident that we will begin to see improvements over the coming months.”
According to the KHDA, tuition fees at the school range from Dh2,812 for KG1 to Dh5,624 for a Grade 12 pupil.
nhanif@thenational.ae