Private Schools Catering to Foreign Students in Dubai

Alternatives are crucial when public schooling is closed to non-Arabs.

Ashok Kumar, who grew up in Chandigarh, India, is the chief executive officer at a private school that serves 9,000 Indian students on a sprawling campus in this fast-growing Arab city—and every day is an educational balancing act.

Mr. Kumar must make sure that Indian High School , the name that covers the entire K-12 institution, not only follows an Indian curriculum, including daily Hindi lessons, but also complies with regulations from the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Education for private schools. In accordance with those regulations, the Indian school also provides daily lessons in Arabic.

Opened in 1961, the school fills an important niche in this city of about 860,000, which has a high proportion of foreign workers—many with children—who must find schooling alternatives because the UAE does not enroll non-Arabs...

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