UAE entry assessments for children can be psychologically scarring

The assessments are often prerequisites for elite schools, and some carry a non-refundable fee of up to Dh1,000. Jeff Topping / The National

DUBAI // Children as young as 3 are being forced to have expensive assessments to gain entry to private schools – a practice experts say can be psychologically scarring.

The assessments are often prerequisites for elite schools, and some carry a non-refundable fee of up to Dh1,000.

Interviews for kindergarten and Grade 1 pupils have been banned in Abu Dhabi’s private schools since 2013, after the education regulator received complaints from parents that the assessments were causing their children undue stress.

But the practice continues in Dubai, as a British couple found out with their son, 5.

They say they paid Dh1,000 for assessment at Kings’ School Al Barsha, only to have the boy’s application rejected.

All told, the father said, they had paid Dh4,500 in such fees over the past two years.

Dr Tahir Saeed, a clinical psychologist who works with children and adolescents, said making very young children go through entry assessments could be detrimental.

“They should never be assessed at this age. It’s very traumatic,” Dr Saeed said.

“I don’t think they should assess children for entry or even after. We don’t want to compare children at this age.

“We don’t want them to think this child is better than me.”

“We should treat them equally,” Dr Saeed said. “He might not know it now but after 10 years, 15 years, he will think about it.”

He said children often picked up on the stress experienced by parents anxious to find a placement for them.

Dr Saeed dismissed arguments that the selection process helped to pool pupils of similar abilities together.

“I don’t agree that all children to get in the class they should be of the same level. What’s the point?” Dr Saeed said. “That’s the responsibility of the teacher and the school to provide and to bring all those children to the same level.

“In 30 minutes, how can you assess that this child is at the same level as the others, unless you do a kind of IQ assessment?”

Aimon Sabawi, director of admissions at Repton School Dubai, said younger children were assessed through observation, while older pupils were given English and maths exams.

“It is important to understand that schools are not necessarily diagnosing children or providing any professional feedback that you would see with testing centres or educational consultants,” Mr Sabawi said.

“They are testing if applicants are within the range of abilities against current school pupils. Most schools give very little feedback on assessment results other than pass or fail.”

Abu Dhabi Education Council has ruled that schools cannot charge assessment fees or give pre-admission tests for kindergarten or Grade 1 pupils.

“Adec has directed schools not to do assessments for entrance, rather to do placement so as to be able to plan for the support, intervention and enrichment needed,” Adec said.

For lower grades, such as kindergarten and Grade 1, the assessment is meant to evaluate children’s social and communication skills.

“There are no other skills involved as selectivity is not acceptable by Adec,” it said.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority, which regulates private schools in Dubai, only monitors tuition and fees for services provided by the school.

The assessment fees are set by the individual school’s education boards, the KHDA said.

“Private schools in Dubai fix their admission criteria in line with the needs of their curriculum and the education board they are attached to,” said Mohammed Darwish, the KHDA’s chief of regulations and permits.

“Schools align their admission criteria and admission process with their education boards to maintain the standards at the school.

“Given the nature of the educational landscape, with 16 different curriculum and education boards, KHDA reviews the admission process and/or policies as part of the academic plan review and the continuous compliance visits to schools.

“However, transparency about the process, the fees and the assessment results are a given as far as KHDA is concerned.”