110,000 pupils receive ‘good’ education in Sharjah, says study

Sheikh Sultan Bin Ahmed Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, witnessed on Sunday, the results of the 'Itqan' programme for 2022- 2023, a qualitative initiative aimed at enhancing school performance across the emirate of Sharjah.

The event, which was organised by the Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA), was held at University City Hall.

Sheikh Sultan honoured the schools that placed first in evaluations of the "Itqan" programme and schools that increased by two levels in their classification compared to last year, which got a very good rating in the Arabic language. He inaugurated the mark of quality and excellence in the "Itqan" programme.

Ali Ahmed Al Hosani, Director of SPEA, gave an overview of "Itqan," indicating that the programme included specialised teams reviewing schools' application of quality and performance standards.

Al Hosani addressed the objectives of "Itqan," which seeks to develop and improve the quality of school performance in all its aspects, inform parents of this programme's results, and support them in making appropriate decisions for their children.

He added that the programme operates according to six standards and seventeen performance indicators, and the evaluation process took place according to these criteria. These include quality of pupils' achievements, personal and social development of pupils and innovation skills, quality of teaching and evaluation processes, curriculum, quality of care, guidance, and support provided to pupils, and the quality of school leadership and management.

Al Hosani reviewed the programme's statistics from October to March, explaining that the participation included 110 schools studying ten curricula, and includes more than 181,000 students.

During the review period, the six criteria of the "Itqan" programme and its seventeen indicators, which include seventy elements, were examined during thirteen educational weeks, in 440 days.

A total of 17,500 lessons were viewed and watched, 880 meetings were held, and a questionnaire survey of parents was implemented, of which more than 65,000 responded to it, and reports were sent to all schools. Some 54 schools out of 110, representing 49 percent of those evaluated, provide good or better education. The breakdown of the results revealed one "outstanding" school, nine "very good" schools, 44 "good" schools, 53 "acceptable" schools, and three "weak" schools. no school was ranked "very weak."

The study also highlighted that 110,954 pupils who make 61 per cent of the total pupil population in private schools, receive "good" or better education, while 177,709 pupils, a whopping 98 per cent, receive at least an acceptable level of education.

Al Hosani presented a comparison of the results of the program between the previous and the current session. The results indicate a significant improvement of 68 per cent in school performance compared to previous evaluations, as 91 per cent of the schools in the previous session received "acceptable", "weak", or "very weak" education.

Some 94 schools had ranked "weak" out of 102 evaluated at the time, while in the current evaluation, 97 per cent of schools received "acceptable" or better, and 49 percent received good or better education this year. The number of schools providing good or better education has grown from eight to 53, while those offering acceptable or less education has dropped from 94 to 56.

In the previous evaluation, only 8 per cent ranked "good" or better, which has risen to 49 percent in the current assessment. In addition, all 26 "weak" or "very weak" schools improved, and 5 schools jumped two levels at once. At the student level, the number of students receiving "good" or better education has increased from 25,000 to approximately 111,000 students.

The number of students receiving "acceptable" or less has also decreased, from around 146,000 to 70,000 students.

The results also revealed an improvement in students' achievement in all subjects. Al Hosani praised the participation of the parents in the survey, indicating that 84 percent of them were satisfied with the quality of education their children receive in schools, while 89 percent of parents stated that their children feel happy while they are in school. In addition, 94 percent of them affirmed that their children feel safe inside the school.

The SPEA Director concluded his speech by pointing out that the Arabic language for native speakers is the highest-performing subject in schools, where the improvement reached 60 per cent compared to 2018.

It has reached to an "acceptable" or better in 100 per cent of the schools, pointing to the authority's great interest in it, as teachers specialised in Arabic language and Islamic education are being trained and qualified, under the umbrella of the Sultan Al Qasimi Emiratisation Project' in the private sector.