The Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA) was established by the Amiri Decree No. (45) of 2018, issued by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah. SPEA represents the specialized local authority to regulate, follow up and supervise the affairs of private educational institutions (nurseries, schools, centers, and institutes).
The Sharjah Private Education Authority is responsible for developing public policies, strategic plans, oversight, control, and proposing necessary legislations to regulate and develop private education.
SPEA also works on proposing penalties for violating the controls and requirements concerning private education. In addition to evaluating, approving, ratifying, and assuring the equivalency of certificates, establishing, and managing facilities, granting operating licenses, evaluating performance, concluding contracts, agreements, MOUs, and partnerships, holding seminars, educational events, and conferences, or participating in them locally and internationally.
SPEA performs a wide range of roles, including issuing professional and institutional licenses and building department services, modifying educational licenses, approving educational institutions advertisements, and ratifying training certificates for private centers, in addition to the services requests for opening a new branch starting by adding or altering the plan until the opening of a new school.
Among the roles that distinguish SPEA from other educational entities are the continuous improvement processes through which it ensures controlling the quality of teaching and learning in educational institutions affiliated with it, preparing and implementing models, frameworks, methodologies, and tools, and improving policies in coordination with the concerned authorities, providing advice and guidance to workers in educational institutions, and developing and supporting both the human resources and material resources.
Supervision of educational processes is one of the most pivotal roles of SPEA, and that is to ensure its compliance with the policies, resolutions, and regulations governing work, in partnership with a group of bodies and institutions that seek in the same direction, to ensure the quality of provided educational services to students.
SPEA has launched a number of qualitative projects aimed at developing teaching and learning processes, including the “My School Is Most Beautiful” initiative, which works to serve the sectors covered by the Authority, by developing and maintaining private schools, and providing the best educational environment for its students, by providing support to them and developing their buildings, facilities, and services and contributing to raising the level of performance and strengthening the infrastructure.
In order to provide safer transportation services, SPEA launched the “Your Children Are Safe” project to monitor the school transportation process through the smart application launched by SPEA. The application provides important data concerning the progress of the school bus and the number of students and records the attendance and absence of students by using the application and the assigned tablet. The service has been extended so that each parent can track their child instantaneously through a program on their phone.
Among the most qualitative projects launched by SPEA are the evaluation projects, which included the evaluation of distance learning for all private schools in the Emirate, the Asian schools evaluation project, the projects to harmonize the curriculum in schools that follow the British curriculum, the project to establish the board of directors of private schools and nursery managers in Sharjah, in addition to the preparation and publication of the continuous professional development policy during the academic year, the policy of education and distance learning, and the project of Child Friendly Schools and Nurseries (CFSN).
The Emirate of Sharjah has been adopted as a standard emirate for international tests, after the Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA) announced that its schools had passed the TIMSS tests, sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement in the subjects of science and mathematics, scoring more than 500 points from 60 participating countries.
SPEA’s schools participated in a group of international tests, including the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019, and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)2021.
SPEA also paid most of its attention to the Arabic language for speakers and non-speakers and adopted a special initiative titled” Together, in Arabic, we elevate “, several workshops were held, and many activities were carried out.
In order to implement the UAE ‘s approach to providing services to the customer without the need for physical attendance, SPEA has established specialized electronic platforms to provide all the Authority’s services such as student registration, issuance, renewal, and cancellation of professional and institutional licenses for educational institutions, direct communication with educational leaders in schools, follow-up of school administrations, implementation of development plans, and linking all departments in SPEA that are required by the investor
