DUBAI // The Ministry of Education published a calendar for next academic year giving public school pupils in Dubai and the Northern Emirates a four-week winter break, while teachers will have two.
The new school year will begin September 3 for teachers and September 10 for pupils. The winter break will begin December 17 for both pupils and teachers, and the second term will not resume until January 14 for pupils.
Teachers and staff will return to school January 2, according to the calendar, published in Arabic on the ministry’s social media account and confirmed by an MoE official. However, January 2 is a Tuesday and a peculiar day for teachers to return. Calls and text messages to the education minister and undersecretary were not answered.
The spring break will be two weeks for pupils, beginning March 25, 2018 and ending April 8, 2018, while teachers and staff will have one week off, returning to school on April 1, 2018.
The last day of school for pupils will be July 5, 2018 and July 12, 2018 for teachers and staff.
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority, which regulates private schools in Dubai, said the ministry’s calendar has also been shared with private schools.
“The updated schools calendar is a decision of the UAE Cabinet, designed to give families more time to spend together, and to provide students with a greater home-school balance,” said Mohammed Darwish, the KHDA’s chief of regulations and permits commission.
“The updated calendar will be consistent across all schools in Dubai, enabling students, teachers and parents to give and get the most out of the academic year.”
Private schools will have the flexibility of adjusting their calendars by one week subject to KHDA approval, so long as the number of instruction days does not fall below 180.
The revised MoE school calendar mirrors the dates announced earlier this month by the Abu Dhabi Education Council, which operates public schools and regulates private schools in the capital region.
Adec’s published calendar, however, did not specify when teachers and staff would return from winter break. But public school staff said they were of the understanding they would have three weeks off, returning January 7. When asked about the new academic calendar last week, Adec confirmed the dates it published online but did not answer additional questions.
rpennington@thenational.ae
