End confusion over holidays

Schools in the UAE need clarity on which government body manages their affairs. The present confusion is unacceptable. The federal Ministry of Education has a national responsibility for the entire country, but the federal structure of the UAE gives considerable autonomy to the separate emirates. This is why the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec), and Dubai's Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) have been given authority by their emirate governments to manage schools in their territories.

Clearly it is important that the relevant authorities across all seven emirates and the federal government work on an agreed strategy. This strategy should focus on broad educational issues such as enforcing a high quality of syllabus and teaching, encouraging a variety of teaching styles to meet the varied requirements of the pupils in the country, and making sure that the schools match the UAE's master plan.

The authorities should not get trapped into micro-managing the teaching, such as ordering schools how to recruit teachers, or planning the dates of school holidays regardless of their different languages and syllabuses. The authorities should focus on giving their young people the best education in the world.