Executive Director, Education Development, Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai
Education sector witnessing improvement everyday, quality has become a major factor to treat it right. Kalthoom Al Balooshi, Executive Director, Education Development, Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai talks to Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN) about Dubai’s perspective of Indian education
There are a lot of opportunities for the Indian education sector to explore in Dubai. Can you please elaborate on it?
Over the past seven years, Dubai has seen a growth rate of five to seven per cent in the education sector. Moreover, in the Indian community itself, there is a need for 40 per cent curriculum schools after the new expansion. So, there are huge opportunities for quality Indian curriculum schools to come and expand in Dubai and for the expertise who understand the Indian curriculum to come and be a part of the education sector in Dubai.
What expectations do you have from the primary and higher education in India. How do you see the Indian education sector from Dubai’s perspective?
Back in Dubai, we have a definition for quality, which is defined by the inspection rating, national agenda and our resultant terms and conditions. So, that is our expectation when it comes to quality and we also understand that it’s all about having students who are able to achieve and do something different, who are ready for the future. This is the type of quality we are looking for, things that are focussed on the students’ achievements.
How many Indian students schools are there in Dubai? How do you think it will develop by 2020?
There are almost 80,000 students with 31 Indian curriculum schools in Dubai and we are expecting around 40 per cent more students in the Indian curriculum schools. That’s what the numbers tell us and we understand that there might be some different numbers coming up too because this is the general growth rate and it might be much more in the future. Looking at the latest statement, the Prime Minister of India, on his visit to Dubai, said, “We undersatnd that there are few government schools and we will be working as well on increasing the Indian curriculum schools in Dubai.”
How do you see the Indian education sector from Dubai as a whole in graphs?
The Indian education sector is attracting different nationalities and is actually addressing the need of the market because of the population of the Indian community. It’s growing very fast, attracting the needs, and working hard towards the quality education.
What differences do you see in the Indian education sector when compared to the UK and US-based education system?
We have two of the Indian curriculm schools, which are rated as outstanding when compared to US, UK and others. In terms of rating, to get outstanding is quite high but they are actually addressing the whole need.
So, it’s not the curriculum, it’s how they are delivering the curriculum. If a curriculum is able to reach outstanding, it covers all the requirements from achievement of the student to his well-being. We can expect more schools which will be under the outstanding rating.
Dubai has some 200 million dollar revenue for Indian curriculum. Can you just elaborate on it how it is right now and how it will be in the next five years?
Depending on the capacity, it could be doubled or tripled.
