UAE enforces stricter school attendance rules to curb pre-holiday absences

Abu Dhabi: On Fridays and in the final days before school breaks, classrooms across the country have often grown noticeably quieter. The Ministry of Education now wants to change that.

Minister of Education Sarah bint Yousef Al Amiri confirmed that nine measures are being enforced to tackle student absenteeism, particularly before weekends and official holidays, describing attendance not simply as a rule, but as a shared responsibility between schools and families. The ministry, she said, will continue field monitoring while refining procedures to strengthen students’ sense of commitment and accountability.

The issue was raised during a recent session of the Federal National Council (FNC), where Speaker Saqr Ghobash pointed directly to the role of families. “The greater responsibility lies with the family,” he said.

“It is the family that allows the absence.” He added that a student who missed class would not be readmitted without a parent present, an indication, he suggested, that accountability once started within the family.

In response, Al Amiri outlined what the ministry has already put in place. Attendance is now electronically monitored, with instant notifications sent to parents. A new procedural guide for the 2025–2026 academic year regulates how absences are recorded and linked to academic promotion. Unjustified absences are capped at 15 days per year.

The ministry has also taken a firmer stance on absences immediately before holidays and on Fridays, counting them as double.

Students who exceed the permitted limit risk having their certificates withheld, and parents are required to sign written undertakings.

Chronic cases are reviewed individually and, where necessary, referred to child protection authorities within what officials describe as a preventive and educational framework.

Yet the debate within the council revealed that enforcement alone may not be enough.

FNC member Dr Moza Al Shehhi acknowledged that the new rules have reduced absenteeism but argued that the pattern still reappears before holidays.

She called for a shift from measuring compliance in numbers to examining the deeper behavioural impact of policies. Her proposal was to make the final days before holidays more engaging. Schools could organise activities, offer symbolic rewards or grades for full attendance, and launch awareness campaigns that speak not only to students, but to families.

Recent data suggests progress. The ministry reported that attendance during the first term of the current academic year reached 94.7 per cent, with 86 per cent of students achieving full attendance throughout the term.