Slimmer education ministry sets agenda

The Ministry of Education outlines the responsibilities and goals of each of its 16 departments.

DUBAI // The Ministry of Education has outlined the responsibilities and goals of each of its 16 departments as part of reforms aimed at transforming its structure and improving its efficiency. The new organisation structure has seen the ministry cut 12 departments in the past year to reduce bureaucracy and bring in more effective management, said Dr Hanif Hassan Ali, the Education Minister.

"This will enhance the quality of service," he said. "The ministry will be more efficient." Each of the 16 departments was told in a decree from Dr Ali what it must do to fulfil its responsibility. The departments will look after several areas including private schools, curricula, special education and examinations. The Government, in a three-year strategy released in April 2007, said the ministry should decentralise its operations and expand the roles of local education authorities. As a result, the Abu Dhabi Education Council recently assumed oversight responsibilities for private schools in the emirate, and Dubai's Knowledge and Human Development Authority began inspecting all schools to ensure that they were up to standards.

The intention is for local authorities to manage much of what was previously under the ministry's direct control. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, endorsed the plan a year after its release. The plan calls for, among other things, revising public school curricula, tearing down and rebuilding older school facilities, and introducing and enforcing new standards for public school teachers. It also says the ministry should be more transparent in its work, and cut or sharply reduce departments that lose their relevance.

The goal of the strategy is for the ministry to work out an education policy for the country, not school management. The ministry, to take one example, now oversees the hiring of all public school teachers. That responsibility will pass to schools and local authorities. "This is a very important day for us," Dr Ali said. "We are moving toward a more decentralised system, which means fewer departments within the ministry.

"We are giving more autonomy and authority to the education councils, zones and, eventually, schools." [e-mail]