Dubai: For decades a grey area, and strictly banned during the COVID-19 pandemic, private tuition at home has now been accepted formally in the UAE.
On Monday, authorities from education and employment sectors joined hands to regulate “the provision of private lessons for students outside educational institutions”.
The Private Teacher Work Permit will curb “haphazard practices” in the sector, officials said. The Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) jointly announced details of the Permit on Monday.
Free registration
Individuals interested to become private teachers will have to register on an official MoHRE webpage to obtain the Permit, which is free for two years and renewable.
Registration is simple, needing only, in most cases, valid identification documents (passport, residence visa, Emirates ID), certificate of good conduct, medical fitness certificate, and a No Objection Certificate from the school.
Even students who meet the eligibility criteria, such as being at least 15 years old and having their guardian’s permission, can apply. In fact, individuals who work outside the education sector, or are unemployed, can also become private teachers after obtaining the Permit.
Checks and balances
The move will provide checks and balances in this sector, which has always been in high demand but unregulated, until now. Paid private tuition at home is sought by students, through their parents, as a means of improving learning outcomes. It has also supplemented the income of teachers. However, there was previously no legal framework to ensure the rights of both learners and educators in the paid private tuition sector.
It is pertinent to note that there are establishments, as opposed to individuals, which are already regulated and licensed to offer educational coaching services.
Now that a government-sanctioned system has been put in place for private tuition by individuals offering lessons outside the school or university, all parties will be expected to uphold the terms of the arrangement between them, such as financial obligations and the content and structure of the supplementary education.
Individuals offering private lessons without the Permit will be subject to “fines and penalties” in line with “all applicable laws in the UAE”.
Meeting a need
In a media release on Monday, Dr Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al Mualla, Undersecretary for Academic Affairs of the Ministry of Education, said: “The introduction of a permit for individuals qualified to provide private lessons will help curb illegal and unregulated practices when recruiting private teachers, which risk affecting the learning process as a whole.”
“The new permit, which aligns with international best practices in the field, is a joint effort between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and serves to establish a legal framework that regulates private lessons at the national level, protects the rights of private teachers, and ensures that students receive supplemental education that meets their learning style and needs.”
