Dubai schools failing

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Only two out of 22 schools in Dubai which were ranked as "unsatisfactory" during school inspections have been upgraded following new visits, it has been announced.

Two were deemed to have made sufficient progress in the period since the initial inspection that they no longer require three-monthly follow-through inspections. These are Star International Al Twar and The Oxford School.

All other 20 schools will require on-going support from Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) through the regular three-monthly follow-through inspections, officials said, The schools' inspection grading will not change as a result of follow-through findings, but all schools at the next full inspection will have an opportunity to alter the unsatisfactory grading achieved in the initial quality inspections.

A further 10 schools graded as "acceptable" by school inspectors were also revisited as they were judged to have "unsatisfactory" features. Of those, three will not need another visit by inspectors.

Jameela Al Muhairi, chief of DSIB, said: "The follow-through inspections demonstrate our commitment to supporting the schools in their improvement. Where schools have not improved, the Bureau will continue to visit until we see an improvement."

A total of 189 schools in Dubai were inspected between October 2008 and April 2009. They did not include Dubai's 31 Indian, Pakistani and Iranian schools, which will be visited in the next academic year.

The breakdown of schools in the four inspection categories of outstanding, good, acceptable and unsatisfactory was:

Public schools - Good, 32; Acceptable, 43; Unsatisfactory, 5. There were no outstanding public schools.

Private schools - Outstanding, 4;  Good, 34; Acceptable, 54; and Unsatisfactory, 17.