Eight days off for schools in December

Dubai: All public and private schools will get at least eight days of holidays in early December with the announcement that Thursday, December 4, will also be a holiday as it falls between the National Day and Eid Al Adha vacations, Gulf News has learnt.

National Day holidays will start on Tuesday and Wednesday (December 2 and 3), the additional day off will be added to the calendar to connect to the Eid Al Adha holidays which are expected to fall on December 7, said Rashid Al Nua'mi, Director Manager of the Education Ministry.

Since many students do not come to classes between the two public holidays, the ministry decided to make it a holiday while enforcing schools to make up for that day.

Last Eid Al Fitr, when a public holiday was given to the government sector for four days starting Monday, September 29, the Ministry instead announced a whole week off for schools while making up for that additional time on a later day.

Although Al Nua'ami said a circular was sent to schools on Sunday, October 26, announcing Saturday, November 1, as a school day, principals said they only found out about it from Arabic newspapers on Wednesday. "This is such a short-notice," they said.

"In the student's mind, this additional day will be recorded as only absent for one day with no repercussions and we cannot hold anything against the student because we don't have a rule that says we can. Imagine when you have most students doing that you can't complete the curriculum and this is the real crisis we are going through," said Mohammad Al Mas, Principal of Al Ma'aref School for boys.

Al Nu'ami acknowledged there is no regulation on that matter saying schools should be strict with their students to comply.

According to the academic calendar for public schools, students will only have five to six days of classes in December since almost two weeks will be spent on public holidays, and their last day of classes before their exam period for the first term will be on the 18th of the month.

"Even if our students have classes every Saturday till the end of the term we still can't finish the curriculum on time," said Mohammad Hassan, principal of Mohammad Bin Rashid public school.

Education zones of each emirate are expected to carry out all necessary procedures to ensure buses are available for students on Saturday, said an official from the Ministry.

Private international schools and Asian schools have the flexibility to adjust their schedules according to their curriculum, said Al Nu'ami.

Classes on November 1

The previous announcement by the Education Ministry to include Sunday, September 28, of Ramadan as a holiday on condition schools make up for that day, announced that this Saturday, November 1, will be a school day for public kindergartens and schools, adult education centres, as well as Arabic schools that teach the Education Ministry curriculum.

Are you worried about your child's academic performance? Why? How do extra holidays impact academics? Should other schools follow suit?

Agreed, the students are missing out on the set curriculum, but it is a welcome relief as it would give children more time to be what they should be doing. Being children! With difficult traffic conditions the students are deprived of sleep and fun of growing up. Absence of school for few extra days wont harm their adult careers later on :)
Anisha
sharjah,UAE
Posted: October 30, 2008, 11:33

Schools are under a lot of pressure to cover the curriculum, raise standards, provide for extra-curricular activities and secure accreditation with the KHDA - How can schools make progress on these objectives if schools are closed for an approximately 150 - 160 days per academic year which is much lower than 190 days of schooling in western countries such as the UK.
Sanjay
Dubai,UAE
Posted: October 30, 2008, 10:27

Yes am very concerned with all these holidays, it seems like children hardly get proper time in school, and curriculum is left incomplete, so teachers just run thru lessons in the class without giving enough time to the child to grasp.
Shagufta
sharjah,UAE
Posted: October 30, 2008, 09:40

It is really funny to think about matters this way. The problems are not having many holidays as many countries all over the developed world have more time for holidays. the bottom line is matching the curriculum with time. When we have a look at our division we can easily find that we have short and full of holidays semester which is the first and then we come to a very long and holidays-free second semester. It is logical just to assign less curriculum for the first term and then there will be no need to such a mess.
Mohammad
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: October 30, 2008, 09:26

This is ridiculous. The school calandar is set long before school gets out. Should the schools have not taken all these holidays into consideration and made the end ofthe school year out later? Some schools are not out until the first week of July. Which is 2 weeks after many schools.
Erica
Dubai,UAE
Posted: October 30, 2008, 07:05

I think what decission Ministry has taken is very much right as most of the kids will not come to school on that day, butI have one important question to ask from Ministry that since last year Schools are closing early in May first week while they had taken fees for the complete year till June 08 and fees is not less on average 1000 dhs per kid /month and specially if your all kids are going to school.( they had taken 2 months fees while school were closed for those 2 months)I think Ministry should take stricct action against them as not to charge or not to close school early.
khalid
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: October 30, 2008, 05:29