Merryland International School

A long-standing CBSE and Indian-curriculum school in Mussafah that has built a strong academic reputation, particularly in the senior grades.

ADEK has held the school at Outstanding through the most recent inspection cycle. The day-to-day pitch is rigorous academics with serious attention to STEM enrichment, robotics, and science fair circuits. Senior-grade results in the science stream are the school's calling card and the main reason families travel across the city to enrol.

Parent feedback is genuinely split. The strongest reviews praise teacher quality, discipline, and value relative to the academic outcome. The recurring complaints are around communication, with families reporting they often hear about behaviour or progress issues late, and some uneven handling of children who fall outside the top academic band. Comparable shortlist schools at the British-circuit price point are Brighton College Abu Dhabi and Repton, both at multiples of Merryland's fee.

• Online reviews split sharply between current students who praise academics and ex-students describing a strict, traumatic environment.
• Multiple ex-students describe "unresolved childhood trauma," physical discipline by lower-grade teachers, and bullying that staff didn't intervene in. One ex-pupil said: "I was amongst the little children that got abused physically and emotionally." Another said the school is "the source of all childhood trauma."
• A parent who briefly enrolled their child in KG said they pulled out after staff spoke down to them about fees, calling the school "really bad for children."
• Defenders, often current or recent students, praise the academic results, saying the school regularly produces world or country toppers and that students take four A levels.
• One commenter said students claim teachers are pressured to leave 5-star ratings online.
• ADEK rates the school Outstanding for 2025-26.