Streamlining of private schools a timely measure

Sharjah’s initiative is a result of intense planning and insight that will help all the stakeholders

The decision by Sharjah to yoke the private school system to a local body comprising international education experts — who will guide it onwards to bring about improvements in form and content — needs to be given full marks for its avowed purpose. In taking this step, Sharjah has pushed the boundaries in its pursuit of excellence in the field of education. The supervision by the local governing body that will mentor, and monitor, performance and practices of private schools will lead to a domino effect of advantages for all stakeholders in this sector — schools, students, parents and investors — by enhancing transparency, efficiency, quality and the outcomes thereof.

The local body, that will work under the direct guidance of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, will ensure that all parameters required for a strong performance, including evaluation of teachers, teaching methods and student satisfaction, as well as the ancillary but crucial aspects such as a student’s school transfer, for example, are clearly defined.

These new measures for private schools — which are a result of intense planning and insight — are a commendable example of policy vision and cohesion and they will help redress many of the issues that parents, lacking a higher recourse, have been facing so far.

The delineation between private and public schools in terms of their functioning has been the norm all along, but in announcing this dynamic departure, Sharjah has shown how the greater ambition for society — of nurturing the human resources for tomorrow through education — can be initiated through change for all the right reasons.