ABU DHABI // Eleven private schools opened in the emirate this academic year providing seats for about 20,000 pupils, while a further 10 schools are planned to open next academic year, according to Abu Dhabi Education Council.
Five of the 11 new schools that opened in September are former villa schools that were ordered to close and relocate to purpose-built buildings as part of Adec’s villa school closure programme. Launched in 2010, the programme forced schools from various curriculums that were operating out of residential villas or commercial buildings to move into education facilities in proper school zones that met the emirate’s school safety and building standards.
“Our priority was to put them in safe, purpose-built buildings that were up to our standards and met Adec’s health and safety strategy standards and regulations,” said Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, Adec’s director general.
On Tuesday, Dr Al Qubaisi announced that all 72 villa schools had closed and all of their 46,000 pupils had been transferred to 29 new facilities built at a cost of Dh2 billion. Although private school investors bore the construction and operational costs of relocating the schools, Adec said it offered 29 plots of land for the former villa school owners to lease for the rock-bottom price of Dh1 per square metre. Villa school operators unable to build from scratch were offered vacant public school buildings as replacements and others closed altogether without relocating.
“We’re very proud to say today we don’t have any more villa schools,” said Dr Al Qubaisi. “It wasn’t easy to take that road, but it was for the benefit of our children. We went forward and every possible means of support was given to the investors so that they would continue investing in this field, providing services but within the best environment for our children ... balancing this with having feasible fees — it wasn’t an easy task. It’s a huge success story for Abu Dhabi education and we’re very proud of this accomplishment.”
Children from the villa schools have been offered capped tuition at their replacement schools so that they could only be charged up to 20 per cent more the first year at the new school and 10 per cent more each additional year, according to Adec.
Whereas villa schools were overpopulated, the new schools now meet all of Adec’s private school design and safety standards, said Adec business development manager Tareq Al Ameri.
For example, schools should have minimum facilities such as a science lab, music and art room, an ICT lab, sports hall, library and a health clinic with two full-time registered nurses, for co-ed schools.
“This is the minimum that schools should have on their premises,” said Mr Al Ameri.
Hamad Al Dhaheri, Adec’s executive director of private schools and quality assurance, said closing the villa schools and opening new, modern schools was something “to be proud of. If we, by any means, provide a chance for a student to get better education, we are all winners, it’s as simple as that”, said Mr Al Dhaheri.
Dr Al Qubaisi said there was already evidence to suggest villa school students were performing better academically in their new facilities.
New schools in Abu Dhabi
Sheikh Zayed Private Academy for Boys
Location Mainland Abu Dhabi
Curriculum American
Capacity 1,390
Amity International School
Location New Al Bahia
Capacity 1,100 (phase one)
Curriculum British
Global Indian International School
Location Baniyas East
Capacity 1,700
Curriculum Indian
Al Maharat Private School
Location Khalifa City B
Capacity 1,993
Curriculum Ministry of Education
Virginia International Private School
Location Khalifa City B
Capacity 1,100
Curriculum American
Ryan International School
Location Masdar City
Capacity 1,525 (phase one, phase two total 2,875)
Curriculum Indian
Abu Dhabi International Private School (villa school replacement)
Location Mohammed bin Zayed City
Capacity 2,200 (phase one, phase two 3,000 total)
Curriculum American
Elite Private School (villa school replacement)
Location Mohammed bin Zayed City
Capacity 1,900
Curriculum American
ABC Private School (villa school replacement)
Location Al Shamkha
Capacity 1,300 (phase one, phase two 2,500 total)
Curriculum British
Al Murooj Scientific Private School (villa school replacement)
Location Mohammed bin Zayed City
Capacity 1,115
Curriculum British
Modern Private School (villa school replacement)
Location Shakhbout City
Capacity 2,000
Curriculum Ministry of Education
rpennington@thenational.ae
The specs
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SPECS
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VERSTAPPEN'S FIRSTS
Youngest F1 driver (17 years 3 days Japan 2014)
Youngest driver to start an F1 race (17 years 166 days – Australia 2015)
Youngest F1 driver to score points (17 years 180 days - Malaysia 2015)
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How they line up for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix
1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
4 Max Verstappen, Red Bull
5 Kevin Magnussen, Haas
6 Romain Grosjean, Haas
7 Nico Hulkenberg, Renault
*8 Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
9 Carlos Sainz, Renault
10 Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
11 Fernando Alonso, McLaren
12 Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren
13 Sergio Perez, Force India
14 Lance Stroll, Williams
15 Esteban Ocon, Force India
16 Brendon Hartley, Toro Rosso
17 Marcus Ericsson, Sauber
18 Charles Leclerc, Sauber
19 Sergey Sirotkin, Williams
20 Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso
* Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth but had a three-place grid penalty for speeding in red flag conditions during practice
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six
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Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
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Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press
Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
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- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm