Dubai offers a wide variety of pre-school and early childhood education opportunities for children aged 0 to 4 years and there are currently more than 120 registered centres in the Emirate. Whilst many of these are stand-alone centres, many K-12 schools also offer early childhood education, pre-school, to their students.

In 2009 KHDA commissioned a report from John Bennett, a world-renowned authority on early childhood education, on the status of early childhood education and care in Dubai. The data gathering and research included a number of governmental and private organisations and universities, including the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), the Ministry of Education (MoE), Dubai Health Authority, Zayed University and many others. The Executive Summary of the findings can be viewed in KHDA publications and informs the guidance on the accompanying pages here.

Research clearly shows that the influences in the first years of a child’s life are critical for physical, cognitive, linguistic, creative, social and emotional development. This signifies the importance, along with parental influences, of early childhood services such as nurseries and daycare centres, and the role they play in shaping our future generations in Dubai. Dubai aspires to an environment for early childhood development in the Emirate that adopts global best practices and takes into consideration UAE’s cultural identity and the region’s diversity.
 
On the accompanying page you will find advice on how to choose an early childhood education centre for your child.