221 Abu Dhabi schools inspected for health and safety compliance, allowed to reopen

Abu Dhabi: More than 200 health and safety inspections have been carried out across 221 Abu Dhabi private and charter schools to ensure their compliance with regulations set by the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek).

In a statement, the authority said that it had conducted the checks over the last two weeks, and accordingly issued No Objection certificates for schools to reopen on Sunday, August 29.

Compliance process

Ahead of the new term, schools had been advised of a comprehensive health and safety compliance checklist. Schools that failed to meet the strict compliance protocols were given three calendar days to rectify areas of non-compliance. before being visited again by Adek’s Health and Safety team, and were offered three opportunities to establish readiness.

Had any schools failed their third compliance inspection, they would have been denied the option to reopen for face-to-face learning, and would have been required to return school fees. Parents would also then have opted to transfer their children to an alternative school, the Adek statement said.

Continuing inspections

Once operational, Abu Dhabi schools are required to submit daily compliance self-check reports to Adek, and will be regularly inspected by inspectors. Fines for non-compliance violations range from AED 10,000 to AED 250,000.