His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan have announced that changes will be made to the education system.
His Excellency Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi has been appointed as the Minister of Education, Her Excellency Sarah Al Amiri as the Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology and the Chairwomen of the Emirates Schools Establishment and Her Excellency Sara Musallam as the Minister of State for Early Education, and to supervise the newly established Federal Authority for Early Education.
The Federal Authority for Quality and Standards of Education, affiliated with the UAE Cabinet, has also been established to assess educational outcomes, student performance, and the educational process's efficiency.
The new structure in the education sector includes the Education and Human Resources Council, the Federal Authority for Quality of Education, the Ministry of Education, the Federal Authority for Early Childhood Education, the Emirates Schools Establishment, and the local educational authorities in each emirate.
The Education and Human Resources Council will be responsible for:
- supervising the Future of Education project in the country
- setting the vision and objectives of the education sector in the UAE
- developing the general framework for education and submitting it to the UAE Cabinet for approval
- developing educational policies and legislation
The Federal Authority for Quality and Standards of Education will handle measuring the quality of education, auditing educational outputs related to education, early childhood education, kindergarten, public education, and higher education, in addition to submitting reports on the results and proposals to develop policies, strategies, legislation and curricula.
The Federal Authority for Early Childhood Education, which specialises in early childhood education will:
- develop and implement comprehensive plans to follow up the child's development from birth to the fourth grade
- develop policies, strategies, legislation and programs related to the education needs of the early childhood stage
- working with parents to enhance their role in the early childhood stage
The Ministry of Education under the new structure will:
- managing and developing the general education framework
- curricula and tools for government public education schools in the country
- developing curricula for compulsory educational materials for private schools
- setting standards and regulations
- issuing licenses and monitoring private schools in coordination with the competent local authorities
- supervising international exams in the country and managing their implementation in all public, private and higher education institutions
- recognition of public and higher education institutions operating outside the country, the equivalency of certificates and qualifications they grant, and ratification of certificates and qualifications issued by public and higher education and training institutions licensed within the country
The Emirates Schools Establishment will:
- enhance the efficiency of the government schools and nurseries
- supervise public schools in the country
- implement policies, strategies and standards related to the development of the education sector
- specialise in developing student care programmes, activities and events in public schools, supervising their implementation and proposing innovative and new models for operating public schools to raise their efficiency