Coronavirus: virtual tours prove a hit as UAE schools look to welcome new pupils in September

Schools in the UAE have seen a huge interest in the number of parents opting for virtual campus tours.

For the past few months, admissions teams have been setting up live virtual sessions for prospective pupils and parents looking to move schools.

Due to the pandemic, many campuses said they have had to tweak their enrolment process to offer parents more flexibility to accept offers.

While some schools have noted a reduction in overseas applications, others reported an uptake in pupils transferring from local competitor campuses.

Despite the current climate, many private schools are now set to welcome hundreds of new pupils from September.

A new offering on the market, Al Salam Community School in Dubai, which opened in September 2019, has had many requests from new parents and pupils looking to join after the summer break.

“We opened with just under 800 pupils and we are expecting to welcome at least 300 new pupils in September,” Kausor Amin-Ali, founding principal, told The National.

“We have seen the majority of applicants moving to us from the more premium sector of the education market.

We opened with just under 800 pupils and we are expecting to welcome at least 300 new pupils in September

Kausor Amin-Ali, principal

“As it stands, we have begun to cap year groups in order to ensure quality provision and enable our plan for a 100 per cent return to school on August 30 at our campus in Al Twar 2.”

A UK curriculum school catering to FS1 to Year 13 pupils, fees at Al Salam start from Dh22,000 up to Dh38,000.

This interview featured in the article was originally publised in The National on 2 July, 2020