Dubai schools exempted from unified holidays

All Dubai private schools are exempt from following the unified school calendar, which was announced by the Ministry of Education (MoE) for academic year beginning September, clarified the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).

The format, however, remains intact for all schools under the MoE curriculum.

The KHDA has decided to offer the schools a certain amount of leeway as it understands Dubai’s unique school landscape, with 138 schools offering 13 curricula.

“An educational landscape such as this one requires a certain amount of flexibility in order for it to function in harmony.

“One-size-fits-all motto for an educational landscape as unique as Dubai’s is not an ideal situation,” stated Mohammed Darwish, Chief of Regulations and Compliance Commission at the KHDA.

While schools can plan their individual calendars, they must be in line with the minimum number of school days and school hours as stipulated in the regulations. It must then be submitted it to the KHDA for approval.

Soon after the Ministry of Education announced, last month, about the unification of academic calendar for all schools, there was confusion over its implementation, with schools attached to different education boards (IBO, US, UK (Edexcel and CIE), French and Japanese and more) featuring different schedules for examinations, visits by the accreditation bodies (like IBO, NEASC, CIS to name a few), external assessment dates and other similar commitments.

All Asian schools were already exempt from this rule.

“A formal communication from KHDA has already been sent to these schools,” added Darwish.

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