KHDA inspection reports

[shawarma]

Update: See the 2010 KHDA school ranking topic for information this morning about Dubai school ratings (10 May 2010)
KHDA school inspection reports 2010 - list of schools and ratings for academic year 2009-2010
KHDA school inspections 2009 - list of schools and rankings for 2008-2009 academic year

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority of Dubai (KHDA) released the results of their first Dubai schools inspections today (carried out from October to December 2008 by the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau DISB). Here's a summary of the KHDA school inspections, comparing the best and the worst with the Dubai school ratings on Dubaifaqs as of today. There are bound to be some surprises. Bear in mind too that the comparison of KHDA ratings with the DubaiFAQs ratings is not really comparing like with like. The KHDA inspections are thorough (apparently) and represent the opinions of a handful of people at one point in time. The DubaiFAQs ratings are ongoing and represent your opinions (but if they look wrong, they probably are).

So what do you think? Agree with the list of outstanding schools or unsatisfactory schools from the KHDA? Are there schools that should have been rated differently? Remember that not all school reports have been released yet - the remainder should be available from 17 May 2009 apart from Indian, Iranian, and Pakistani curriculum schools, which will be available next year?

And if you got a spare minute or two, you could:

1. Add your vote/s to say what you think the best British school in Dubai is (polls for other curriculum schools will be added later).
2. Add your own satisfaction rating to the school you are a student / parent / teacher at (click on the school name in the list of Dubai schools to choose a rating - no login required)

Update: Best schools in Dubai topics - add your own votes, ratings, comments .

Best American schools in Dubai
Best British schools in Dubai
Best international schools in Dubai

Update: Separate topics added for each rating category for May 2009

Outstanding ratings Dubai schools
Good ratings Dubai schools
Acceptable ratings Dubai schools
Unsatisfactory ratings Dubai schools

Update: Separate topics added for each rating category for February 2010

Indian school ratings KHDA Dubai
Pakistani school ratings KHDA Dubai

[istiqlal]

Does the KHDA classification give RIGHT to schools to hike up the already expensive education systems in DUBAI?

DAA now

May 21, 2009
Dear Parents,
At Dubai American Academy we work hard to ensure that your children get the high quality education that they deserve. As you can imagine, this effort requires continuous investment.
For the last few years we have been investing in our school’s programs and resources and working to continually improve campus facilities. Recent investments include Promethean Boards in each classroom and other new IT resources, the elementary swimming pool, and the cafeteria renovation. We have made these improvements whilst also absorbing significant rises in operational costs caused by inflation, as past permitted tuition increases have been too low to cover our costs. Understandably, there is a limit to how many increases in costs we can absorb.
Private education in Dubai is price regulated and our regulator, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, decides when schools can increase fees and by how much. In January of 2009, DAA was inspected by the KHDA. The outcomes of inspections are being used by the authority to set a transparent framework of fee increases for fee-paying schools in Dubai.
As you probably know, DAA was judged to be “GOOD” by the KHDA, which has now given us permission to raise our fees by 12% in grades KG1 through 12. This increase will be payable from the start of the new academic year in August. The new annual tuition rates for 2009-2010 are:
Pre K 15,740 AED
KG1 17,630 AED
KG2 46,300 AED
Grades 1-12 65,270 AED

[shawarma]

Does the KHDA classification give RIGHT to schools to hike up the already expensive education systems in DUBAI?

Er, yes, apparently it does (12% for schools rated "good") . See the KHDA school fee increase table for the amounts permitted.

[shawarma]

KHDA ratings for Indian and Pakistani schools have been released (summary on that page). Individual school pages being updated. Full reports on the KHDA website.

Out of 23 schools surveyed:

none were outstanding
7 were good
11 were acceptable
5 were unsatisfactory

Any comments? Agree, disagree, don't care?