21 parliamentary notes, included in the report of the Education, Culture, Youth, Sports and Information Affairs Committee of the Federal National Council on the federal draft law on education, caused the council to refuse to continue its discussions during the session held last Tuesday, claiming that the draft law does not include all aspects of the educational process, Most of its subjects are limited to "compulsory education", and it is decided to return it to the relevant committee to discuss it again with government representatives, in order to come out in an integrated and appropriate manner.

In detail, the Committee for Education, Culture, Youth, Sports and Information Affairs of the Federal National Council will resume its meeting headed by Adnan Hamad Al Hammadi, to discuss the federal draft law on education, which the Council returned to the committee during its meeting held last week, after members discussed a number of its articles for reasons due to His need to re-tab, and more discussion with government representatives.

The session witnessed a heated debate and discussion among a number of members about the failure of the draft law to cover all aspects of the educational process, and the majority of its articles being limited to “compulsory education.” Ends the members ’agreement on the decision to return the draft law to the concerned committee to discuss it more broadly, to become more comprehensive, especially as it The legislative future for education will be determined over the next 50 years, which was welcomed by the Minister of Education, Hussein Ibrahim Al Hammadi, during the session, which praised the opinion of the Council, and pledged to entrust the Ministry officials, in cooperation with the Committee, in order for the draft law to emerge properly.

According to the final report of the committee, the council in the last March 19 session transmitted the draft law to study it and prepare a report on it, and the committee held five meetings over the past year, and adopted a general plan to study the draft law, which included mandating the council’s general secretariat to prepare social and legal studies to clarify the project’s objectives, Its effect and clarification of its societal justifications, and the extent of agreement of the project materials with these justifications, in addition to preparing a comparative study with the laws in force in the country locally and in other countries.

The report, of which Emirates Today obtained a copy, stated that after the committee examined the results report and studies submitted by the General Secretariat, and in light of its ability to survey the views of the authorities concerned with the law, it saw that the draft law achieves three main goals: The first is to improve the level of education In light of global practices, the second is the regulation of the education process, and the third is the mandatory governance of education.

He explained that the draft law received by the government worked to achieve the three goals through (14) articles, which included determining definitions of some of the words and phrases contained in the draft law, defining educational stages in which education is compulsory, and who is responsible for enrolling the child in the educational process, and identifying cases that are exempt In it, the person in charge of the child’s affairs comes from the rule of compulsory education or attendance in it, as well as defining the powers granted to the Ministry in setting study plans and student transportation systems from one stage to another.

He pointed out that the Minister of Education has been given the authority to issue a decision on the charter of students' conduct in education and the regulations for adhering to it, and to determine the penalties imposed on violators of the provisions of the law, as well as to determine the final provisions related to the issuance of the executive regulations, and to cancel provisions that violate the law.

The report explained that the most important reasons for the government's proposal for the draft law were 47 years since the introduction of Federal Law No. (11) of 1972 regarding education, and the occurrence of major developments in the educational process, which required a review of the provisions contained in the law, and their reorganization to include The development of the educational process and global developments in this field and the corresponding legislation regionally and internationally, and in fulfillment of the UAE 2021 vision that seeks to enhance the quality of the educational process, and that the students of the UAE are among the best in the world.

According to the report, the committee identified 21 notes on the draft law received from the government, which it reached after reviewing it during several sessions and meetings with experts, stakeholders and representatives of the government, the first of which was the receipt of the draft law entitled “Federal draft law on education,” a title that expresses the education process In general, while all of its articles were limited to "compulsory education", which made the title broad and the articles narrower in terms of meaning, which the committee sought to rectify by adding a number of amendments, the second is that the draft law came broad in terms of goals and narrow in terms of means to achieve them, where Draft address received The law for the subject of education in a brief manner does not agree with the importance of education as a basic pillar for development, and devoid of the basic ideas necessary to achieve its goals, and therefore the Committee tried to address this by creating some articles.

The list of notes included the receipt of the bill without titles for the articles, so a title was set for each article in compliance with the formal standard applied by the Federal National Council, and the addition of Federal Decree Law No. (15) for the year 2016 to establish the Emirates School for Education Foundation to the preamble of the draft law, in addition to limiting Article (2) ) From the draft law to raise the level of education in the light of best practices, and it was amended by adding the word "international best practices", with the aim of seeking to achieve the first ranks of the state in the field of education worldwide.

The notes included an amendment to Article (3) related to government and private education, by emphasizing that government education is free of charge in all its tools and means and in all its stages, amending Item (2) by stipulating that a citizen child may be enrolled in schools outside the state, and introducing a clause (3) that provides for the possibility of enrolling in fees Study at licensed colleges, universities and institutes.

The notes included transferring the definition of the primary stage from Article (4), creating a separate article for it, amending the definition by setting a higher ceiling for the stage and maintaining another stage of public education at the secondary level, emphasizing the compulsory education at the primary level, and introducing Article (5) concerned with the definition of the secondary stage , Which is required for at least three stages of education, when it stipulates that education is free in all its stages.

The list of notes also included the necessity of amending the definition of "higher education" by transferring it to a separate subject, as article (6) became amended with the higher education stage following secondary school for the presence of three stages, and the creation of article (7) concerned with defining the method of teaching and its tool, and the creation of article (8) Concerned with the student acceleration system to take into account individual differences between students and enable them to progress in the educational ladder.

The report stated that the observations included the necessity of introducing Article (9) on the professional licensing of the educational cadre to the importance of defining the requirements of the educational cadre license, with the aim of raising the level of performance of the educational system, by improving its most important input, which is the teacher, and amending the article on compulsory education in the primary stage, by deleting the time period For the academic year for the possibility of changing it from one year to another, as the determination of the time period was referred to the executive regulations.

Student Code of Conduct

The final report of the Committee on Education, Culture, Youth, Sports and Information Affairs said that the committee noted the creation of an article in the draft education law, which is concerned with the Student Code of Conduct, so that the matter is binding and inclusive of all educational stages, as well as canceling some of the articles because they are not needed in light of the additions provided by the committee, with the amendment of the article Concerning the executive regulations, by adding the Ministry of Education to the other bodies mentioned in the article, because it is the original body responsible for implementation, and finally amending the article concerned with the issuance of the executive regulations, by stipulating that the regulations be issued within three months of the date of publication Anon.

Compulsory education

The Committee on Education, Culture, Youth, Sports and Information Affairs saw the amendment of the article on exemption from compulsory education by adding the act of continuity, especially since the lack of continuity comes within the punishable acts, as well as the necessity of restricting the article on the ministry’s obligations to the primary and secondary levels in order to preserve the independence of universities, while deleting The phrase “the number of years a student is allowed to fail”, due to the inadequacy of being explicitly mentioned in the draft law, provided that it appears in the executive regulations.

The "Education Law" will determine the legislative future for education over the next 50 years.

The draft law gave the Minister of Education the authority to issue a decision on the Student Code of Conduct.

The Education Committee held 5 meetings during the past year, and adopted a general plan to study the draft law.