10 days school calendar extension applauded by parents in UAE

The next academic year for all public and private schools in UAE, except for those having Indian and Pakistani curriculums, will be 10 days longer, according to a new education ministry’s decree. The extension was widely approved by parents, who point out that the current school year is too short and lots of important classes are missed while children are taken on trips to the malls or the museums. Also, parents worry that the diluted curriculums and the large number of school holidays and public holidays waste away their children’s study time and respectively the money they pay as school fees. Just a reminder – some schools as Repton Dubai are so ridiculously expensive despite offering mediocre quality of education that a single school day may cost parents well above 500 Dirhams.

On Monday, the Ministry of Education announced the academic calendar for next school year 2014-2015. Besides adding 10 extra days for the students, the decree also extends the working days for the teachers and the school administration staff.

The next school year will start on 31st August, 2014 and it is scheduled to end on 25th June, 2015, with teachers and administrators starting from 24th August. Their last working day of the academic year will be 9th July, 2015.

Parents welcomed the new calendar, as it gives them the hope that their children will receive a slightly better education than the current one. Children will greatly benefit – next year, they will have more classes for learning, providing a new regulation restricts also the number of holidays, day-offs and school trips and concerts. Many Dubai private schools at present resemble more holiday camps, but not real schools.

There is a change in the term breaks, as well. On 21st December, 2014, students are leaving for their first school break, which will continue through 1st January, 2015. Instead of three weeks, they are getting a two-week holiday. The vacation after the second semester begins on 29th March, 2015 and ends on 9th April, 2015.

According to the new calendar, the total number of school days for 2014/2015 academic year is 189 – 74 days for the first term, 60 days for the second, and the final term has 55 school days. The schedules for examinations and tests in public and private schools, which follow the Ministry of Education curriculum, will also be organized by the new programme.

The calendar is issued by the UAE’s Ministry of Education in agreement with the Abu Dhabi Education Council and Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai. It applies to all public and private primary and secondary schools, adult education centers and Applied Technology High Schools in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and the Northern Emirates. Schools with Pakistani and Indian curriculums will be an exception.