SHARJAH, 26 January 2005 — The UAE government spent more than five billion dirhams on education during the year 2003 compared with less than 250 million dirhams in 1990, says the UAE Yearbook 2005.
The funds were spent on a plan called “Education 2020,” which is made up of a series of five-year plans, designed to introduce advanced education techniques and improve innovative skills and self-learning abilities of students. In 1994, the government spent 247 million dirhams in the education sector and the amount grew to 5.38 billion dirhams in 2003, says the yearbook.
In 2002-2003, there were a total of 595,040 students in 1,208 public and private schools, which were staffed by 40,278 teachers. Government schools numbered 744, while 290,032 students were enrolled at 464 private schools.
The report said the Ministry of Education and Youth Affairs (MOEYA) is initiating a switch from instruction-oriented education to self-education, along with a program for student care, covering their social, psychological and career needs.
Emiratization of teaching staff in government schools is scheduled to reach 90 percent by 2020. Studies have shown that one of the main barriers to the employment of UAE nationals is a poor grasp of English, and a drive is on to change this by introducing a new English syllabus in all government schools over the next three years.
As part of the self-education initiative the MOEYA has also set up an interactive, bilingual website (www.moeya.ae) for school students.
