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Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi (SCAD) issued a set of important indicators about the education sector in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi pertaining to the year 2011.
The figures released reflect the emirate’s remarkable achievements in the various areas of social development, especially the education sector, in regard to which Abu Dhabi government has spared no effort in its endeavor to provide high quality educational infrastructures. This was reflected both in the significant increase in the number of pupils and students enrolled in the schools and universities of the emirate.
Formal education in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi began in the 1960’s, but the rapid development of this sector started in 1971, the year in which the UAE Federation was declared and the Ministry of Education and Youth was created. The ministry assumed responsibility for all the stages of public education and, within a short span of time, government schools spread across the nation and the education sector underwent substantial improvements that reflected positively on the society’s educational profile. Over the past decades, education continued to be a major area of interest for the Government of Abu Dhabi, which has paid particular attention to education and adopted plans and strategies designed to develop education and achieve the objective of upgrading it to match international standards and support the government’s future policies and objectives. Education flourished thanks to the attention paid by the Government to and the resources allocated to it. The illiteracy rate retreated from 75.12% in 1971 to 12.08% in 2000 and only 6% in 2011, one of the lowest rates in the Arab world, where the average in 2009 was 27.3%.
In its commitment to sustainable socio-economic development, the Government of Abu Dhabi accords particular attention to education and ensures that government schools are provided with high-caliber teaching and administrative staff so that they can contribute towards building Abu Dhabi’s future generations and support the emirate’s growth.
With the introduction of formal education in the emirate back in the 1960’s, the government assumed full responsibility for development of education and catering to its needs. Afterwards, private education came about to complement the government’s work in this arena, constituting 58.9% of total enrollment in the Emirate last year. The total number of schools in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi for the school year 2010/2011 year was 480 (299 Government and 181 were private), comprising 13,528 classrooms, 306,497 pupils, 22,218 teachers and 8,055 administrators. The number of pupils per teacher was 13.8 and the number of pupils per classroom was 22.7.
Emirati women, thanks to the great attention they receive at the highest levels, have been able to notch up several achievements in different spheres of life. Their most significant accomplishments, however, are in the field of education. Female education started for the first time in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the academic year 1963/64 and at the time the total female enrollment did not exceed 131 pupils. This number continued to increase dramatically in the course of the following decades, exceeding 150,000 in 2011, with females considerably outnumbering males in government schools.
Women have played an influential role in society throughout the history of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Their role was further enhanced in the last quarter of the past century diversifying into new dimensions in tandem with the development of education in the Emirate. The successive achievements of women in the field of education reflect the particular attention paid to this area and the recognition by families and society of the significance of involving women in the development process. The constitution of the United Arab Emirates expressly provides for women’s right to social freedom and declares their equality in rights with men, including the right to education, work and promotion to senior positions.
The consort of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, spared no effort to reinforce the role of women in all walks of life, within the boundaries of genuine Muslim and Arab traditions. On February 8th, 1973, Her Highness established the Abu Dhabi Woman’s Society, the country’s first women’s society. In this regard, Sheikha Fatima is quoted to have said: "Emirati women have made remarkable and carefully planned progress, while maintaining their religious and cultural heritage.
Due to this close attention, Emirati women have greatly benefited from the various educational opportunities provided by the Government of Abu Dhabi, demonstrating their ability to shoulder responsibility. The results of secondary education in the past two decades are proof of the excellence of female Emirati students, who achieved the highest ranking scores and larger success rates. The ratio of female to male pupils in all stages of general education has continually and gradually with growing interest in woman’s education, rising from 0% in the school year 1960/1961 to 95.9% in the school year 2010/2011, during which total enrollment stood at 291314 students of whom 150013 were males and 156484 were males. The ratio was significantly higher (109.5%) in government schools.
The female/male ratio in the secondary stage is 116.5 for government schools, 85.7 in private education. These ratios indicate larger numbers of males in private schools and vice versa for government schools.
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