The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) announced on Wednesday (17.02) that enrolment into public schools for the 2016-2017 academic year will begin next week. Emirati students and those treated as Emirati students may register at one of Abu Dhabi emirate's 255 public schools from February 21 till March 17.

The registration period for non-Emirati students in public schools will take place during March 13-17.

According to Mohammed Salem Al Dhaheri executive director of School Operations at ADEC the registration process is just a three minutes process with the new electronic service introduced by ADEC."The electronic process adopted by ADEC allows parents to save time and effort while minimising the need to use paper documents" said Al Dhaheri.

"Parents need to visit schools once and register their children using the student's Emirates ID card. The use of ID's help feed student data electronically into ADEC's eSIS system without the need to have paper documents" he further explained.

Fees for the next academic year remain the same for the public schools Dh 6000 per child while registration is free.

Some 10000 new students are expected to join public classrooms next autumn joining the existing 130428 students in all 255 public schools. The emirate also has 238632 pupils in its 186 private schools.

Registration will be processed based on geographical areas and maximum class capacity approved by ADEC which is maximum of 23 students for KG 25 students for primary classes and 30 students for secondary education classes.

"If a parent applies for a student's registration at a school that is full the computer automatically selects the nearest available school" said Al Dhaheri.As per ADEC rules children enrolling for kindergarten (KG) should not be younger than four years old by December 31 2016 while the age requirement for children admission to Grade 1 ranges from six to eight years old on December 31 2016.

Children who can be enrolled in public KG include UAE nationals and those of Emirati mothers holders of a family book while children enrolling in grades one to 12 may be either UAE nationals have a UAE mother holding a family book have a diplomatic ID card issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs orphans sponsored by a UAE citizen provided that the sponsor and the guardian is the same person or non-Emirati students as per the applicable laws and regulations.

For schools with the maximum student capacity parents have to register their children online using Emirates ID to add them to the eSIS waiting list. Waiting lists that are not on the eSIS will be rejected. Students from other public schools private schools or technical institutes willing to transfer to ADEC schools must reserve a seat for the school year online or register in eSIS waiting lists.

The enrolment of non-Emirati top achieving students at ADEC schools grades one to 12 may be done through ADEC's website www.adec.ac.ae during March 13-17.

Enrolment process in short:

> Children enrolling for KG should not be younger than 4yrs by December 31 2016

> Age requirement for children admission to Grade 1 ranges from 6 to 8 years on December 31 2016.

> Children who can enroll in KG include UAE nationals and those of Emirati mothers holders of a family book

> Kids enrolling in grades one to 12 may be either UAE nationals have a UAE mother holding a family book have a diplomatic ID card issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

> Orphans sponsored by a UAE citizen provided that the sponsor and the guardian is the same person or non-Emirati students as per the applicable laws and regulations.