Abu Dhabi to rebuild old schools

Kathryn Lewis

• Last Updated: May 11. 2009 1:09AM UAE / May 10. 2009 9:09PM GMT

ABU DHABI // Old, cramped and dilapidated state schools are to be torn down and 30 new ones will be built in a major upgrade of the system announced yesterday.

Schools lacking gymnasiums, shaded play areas, libraries, canteens or auditoriums will be the first to undergo improvements, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) said. The Government runs 301 schools which serve about 121,000 students,
“We are going to target the schools that need to be replaced because of their age and their design first,” said Mugheer al Khaili, the director general of the ADEC.

Fifteen new school buildings will be completed by 2011 and another 15 the following year. Old buildings will be replaced and some new schools will be opened to respond to growth in Abu Dhabi.

Mohammed al Hammadi, the principal of Al Bayraq School in Al Ain, has issues with the lack of sporting facilities.
“In Al Ain there are something like 135 schools and just two schools have swimming pools,” he said. Mr al Hammadi’s school was built in 1972 and he says it needs updating. There is no high-speed internet and classrooms are small. There is a small hall where students participate in wrestling and theatre.

Although a lack of shaded playgrounds and rundown gyms are some of the dominant problems, schools also suffer from negligence in the maintenance of the buildings themselves.

“My school has water leakage sometimes,” said Fouzia al Jenaibi, the principal at the Sheikha Bint Suror primary school in Al Ain. “We have problems with shading and it’s hard with the weather. The lack of a theatre is also a problem. And the activity rooms are the same as the classrooms. The art room is not that wide and it does not have water facilities. And the floor in the PE hall is not suitable.”

Ms al Jenaibi added that there was no canteen or cafeteria for the students.
Children at state schools need access to the kind of sporting facilities, including swimming pools, that can be found at private schools, said Magda Suleiman, a physical education teacher at the Palestine School for Secondary Education.

“Parents never tell their kids to go take a walk or exercise; they tell them to go open a book and start studying. So it’s at school where we have to promote physical activity and a healthy lifestyle, and nothing will motivate the students if we don’t even have a proper gym,” she said.

Salama Amer, an Emirati mother of two, said better facilities were a factor in her decision to send her two children to private schools. “It’s very important,” Mrs Amer said. “I am not only paying for the curriculum,” she said, adding that the library was of particular importance to her.

The Adec has not determined a budget for its project, nor chosen the schools to be upgraded.

Before asking for proposals from architects, it began a study of existing school facilities. The study, the full results of which have not been made public, indicated that many school buildings waste valuable space – with long corridors and open patios – while some classrooms are so small that teachers cannot use modern education strategies like team teaching or group activity work. Many buildings have insufficient specialised spaces – like science labs – and many do not use energy efficiently.

Initially the Adec invited a dozen principals to review early designs and identify the most pressing issues facing school facilities. The principals said classrooms were too small, they needed sport facilities, proper cafeterias, and multipurpose halls.
The design has now been narrowed down to three candidates.

Fatima al Rashedi, a 24-year-old Emirati, said her parents made the decision to send her and her siblings to private schools because the quality of education and facilities were far superior to the state sector’s. “When I was in school the facilities were much better but now some of the government schools do have really good facilities.”
The issue is not limited to Abu Dhabi. One of the ministry’s strategic objectives is to improve school buildings and utilities.

klewis@thenational.ae