Friday, Oct 18, 2013
Abu Dhabi: As a reprieve for Indian pupils who were left in lurch over closure of schools, a new branch of Abu Dhabi Indian School (Adis), with a seat capacity of 3,000, will be opened in next academic year.
The construction of the school at Al Watbha, about 40 kilometres away from Abu Dhabi city, will begin next week and its first phase will be completed by the end of March 2014, a school official told Gulf News.
The first phase can accommodate pupils up to Grade 6 during 2013-14 academic year and the high school [up to grade 12] will be ready for 2014-2015 academic year, Dr B.R. Shetty, chairman of Adis board of governors, said.
He said the new school will follow the same Adis fee structure, which is one of the lowest in Abu Dhabi.
It is a non-profit sharing school managed by a board of governors constituting prominent Indian businessmen and representatives of registered Indian social organisations in the capital.
Shetty said the school board recently approved the lowest bid of Dh90 million submitted by a contractor to build the 35,000 square-metre school and the contract was subsequently inked to secure the deal.
He dismissed rumours among the Indian community that as he owned a new private school [Bright Riders] there was a conflict of interests in he being the chairman of Adis, causing delay to the opening of its branch.
“All those [rumours] were baseless.”
He said there were certain apprehensions about the land, which caused the delay to begin the construction.
As Gulf News reported, M.K. Lokesh, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, told a news briefing on October 1 that there was an inordinate delay in starting the construction of the new branch of Adis, even after the land was allotted by Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) last year. The private school, Bright Riders, which was also given land at the same time, completed the construction and started operations this academic year, Lokesh has said. “If the private school was able to do so, Adis could have also opened its new branch by this time, which could accommodate 3,000 pupils.”
The envoy had asked the board of governors to expedite the process and open the school before the next academic year.
Lokesh told Gulf News on Monday that he expected that the new school would be opened for next academic year.
M.A. Yousuf Ali, Managing Director of Emke Group who is also the vice chairman of Adis board of governors, told Gulf News: “Given the current situation of scarcity of seats in the Indian curriculum schools, it is imperative that we work whole-heartedly towards completing this new school as soon as possible. I am fully committed to make this project a success and request all stakeholders to work sincerely in completing the school as per the deadline set, so that we can welcome new students from the next academic year itself.”
Shetty said the contractor was willing to reduce his quote from Dh102 million to Dh90 million for community interest. The same contractor constructed the Bright Riders School in time; so they have experience in handling the similar projects, he said.
By Binsal Abdul Kader Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
