'Unsatisfactory' schools say they need tools and time

Principals of schools rated "unsatisfactory" in Dubai's first-ever Indian- and Pakistani-curriculum school inspections say a lack of resources will prevent them from improving as quickly as the Government wants them to. The principals spoke as the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) posted the full reports of the inspections on its website. Last year, only the executive summaries were made available to the public.

"We are viewing those recommendations seriously and we'll try our best to make the requirements," said Tabinda al Ghizala, principal of Pakistan Education Academy, which was rated unsatisfactory. "But the time they have given, three months, it is too short. It is not sufficient time to train teachers, and to improve methodologies, to change or improve the curriculum." "It's not [enough] at all," agreed Rafiq Rahim, the principal of Al Majd Indian School, which was also rated "unsatisfactory".

"For unsatisfactory schools we have to prepare a lot of things," he said. "There is no compromise with them [the KHDA] and we have to make a lot of changes." He added that it was not possible for the school to improve its facilities while students were on campus. Durairaj Muthunadar, the principal of Buds Private School, said the KHDA recommendations "are good for us but we need a year to implement them, and for some we need more than a year."

Difficulties arose because the school caters to low-income families that often come from India and receive vernacular education in villages. These students need to be taught how to read and write and it was difficult to apply new teaching methodologies to them, Mr Muthunadar noted.