Sharjah 24: The Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA) announced the results of the second edition of the “Itqan” programme, for the current academic year (2023-2024), which aims to develop and improve the quality of education in private schools in the Emirate and achieve the authority’s vision, where the performance of 63 private schools representing 9 different curricula out of 129 private schools in the Emirate, including 78,638 male and female students, was evaluated.
In its first and second editions for the academic years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, the results of the programme showed a qualitative and noticeable improvement in the performance of schools by up to 80% compared to the previous evaluation results conducted in the years 2018 and 2019, where the results proved that 100% of private schools in the Emirate provide “acceptable” or better education, and 68% of schools provide “good” or better education, which means that 117 schools in the Emirate offer “acceptable” or better education, of which 79 schools offer “good” or better education.
The final results included one school receiving an “outstanding” rating, 9 schools receiving a “very good” rating, 69 schools receiving a “good” rating, and 38 schools receiving an “acceptable” rating, while no school in the Emirate received a “weak” or “very weak” rating, which reflects the high level of educational services in the majority of private schools in the Emirate.
Comparing the current results with the evaluation results in 2018 and 2019 showed a significant improvement in the level of education in the Emirate, as all private schools now provide “acceptable” or better education, and the number of schools that provide “good” or better education has increased from only 8 schools to 79 schools, which in turn was reflected on the number of students receiving “good” or better education increased from 25,351 to 145,042, while the number of students receiving “acceptable” or less education decreased from 146,539 to 44,550, showcasing the efforts made by all parties in the educational field, and the teams of the SPEA, and Sharjah Education Academy.
The programme outcomes showed that about 145,042 male and female students out of 189,592, which is equivalent to 76% of private school students in the Emirate, receive a “good” or better education, while all students in the targeted schools, numbering about 189,592 male and female students, receive an “acceptable” or better education.
This announcement comes after conducting a comprehensive review of the quality of performance in 63 private schools out of 129 private schools in the Emirate, including 78,638 male and female students. This edition focused on schools that had not been previously reviewed and schools that obtained an “acceptable” level or below in the first edition of the “Itqan” programme for the year 2023, in order to enhance school quality standards and distinguished educational practices within the context of the authority’s vision to achieve “distinguished education” by 2025, and it was implemented throughout the current academic year - from January until last March.
Her Excellency Dr. Muhadditha Al Hashimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA), expressed their pride in the results of the “Itqan” programme and the continuous development witnessed by the education process in Sharjah private schools, in light of the support and follow-up of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and His Highness's insightful vision and wise and continuous directives, which are the main engine behind the successes achieved.
She said that what has been achieved reflects the authority’s strategic vision and plan aimed at improving the quality of education and developing its tools in private schools in Sharjah, noting that the path to excellence requires a joint effort from all concerned parties, including the authority’s work teams, school administrations, and parents, expressing deep thanks to everyone who contributed to this success and made the noticeable improvement in the quality of education, reflected in the evaluation results for the current year compared to the previous two editions.
She added that SPEA’s continuation to strengthen development efforts and provide all aspects of support to the educational field, praising the fruitful efforts made by schools and cooperation with evaluation teams to improve performance in various evaluation standards, stressing the aspiration to continue the process of giving, to achieve more accomplishments.
For his part, His Excellency Ali Al Hosani, Director of the Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA), expressed their pride in the progress achieved by the Emirate’s private schools within the framework of the “Itqan” programme, pointing out that continuous improvement in the quality of education is an essential pillar for achieving the authority’s vision and strategy in providing distinguished education for all students in the Emirate of Sharjah, highlighting the continued support for schools to achieve further progress and excellence.
He stated that announcing the evaluation results comes within the framework of the authority’s keenness on transparency, enhancing the concept of competitiveness between schools, and informing parents of students objectively about the level of their children’s schools so that they can make the decisions they deem appropriate.
He added that the distinguished results came to translate and reflect the efforts made by all parties in the educational field, including school leaders, teachers, and students, in addition to the teams of the Sharjah Private Education Authority and the Sharjah Education Academy, praising the cooperation of all parties in arriving at impartial and accurate evaluations.
The programme recommended the need to continue providing support services, providing professional development programmes to members of the professional community, and conducting improvement review visits to schools that have maintained an “acceptable” level to ensure their mastery of school quality standards in the next editions of the “Itqan” programme.
The authority explained that the evaluation phase included field visits to the targeted schools, which lasted 4 consecutive days for each school, including observing classroom lessons, analysing the results of a survey of the opinions of parents of students in the educational community, and holding meetings with stakeholders from school leaders, boards of trustees, teachers, students, and parents of students. In addition to reviewing relevant school documents and forms representing students’ work and academic achievement, and attending school activities such as morning queues, student arrival and departure times, and break periods.
By implementing its qualitative programme “Itqan”, the authority aims to conduct a study to review and evaluate the quality of the performance of private schools to measure the effectiveness of the performance of private schools and their mastery of school quality standards and distinguished educational practices and to enable students to achieve the desired development at all academic, personal, physical, social and psychological levels.
It also aims to help schools in their journey towards continuous improvement by conducting external verification of their level of progress, quality, and ability to achieve improvement, and to collect the necessary data and evidence to develop educational policies and appropriate intervention plans and make development decisions in a way that ensures the efficiency of the educational system in the Emirate and improves its work.
In its first and second editions for the academic years (2022-2023) and (2023-2024), the programme targeted all 129 private schools in the Emirate, excluding only 12 schools that did not meet the conditions, such as new schools that are still in their second year of operation. The total number of schools reviewed was 117 schools, representing 10 different curricula, and the number of students enrolled in them reached approximately 189,592, including 23,315 Emirati male and female students.
The “Itqan” programme is distinguished by its inclusion of several supportive initiatives and programmes, including the School Leadership Programme, which aims to enhance the skills of educational leaders in managing and improving the quality of education within schools, the Professional Development Programme for teachers, which provides advanced training courses for teachers to raise the level of educational efficiency and promote effective educational practices, and the School Self-Evaluation Project, which helps schools periodically evaluate their performance and identify strengths and areas for improvement.
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