UAE schools’ study hours remain unchanged

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The UAE Ministry of Education (MoE) stressed that the number of weekly study hours will remain unchanged: 26 hours for kindergartens, 35 hours for first ring and 40 hours for second and third rings, with different schedules on Friday.

The ministry also directed the amendment of the daily timetable by adding Friday as an official workday, which ends at 12 noon.

The Emirates Schools Establishment (ESE) emphasised the necessity to take the needed actions and measures to ensure the safety of students and educational cadres, in cooperation with the competent authorities.

ESE noted that the educational and technical staff of schools must be present during the first two weeks of the second semester.

It also stressed that parents, teaching cadres and administrative staff must receive the boosting dose of the vaccine, and adhere to the precautionary measures, including physical distancing, wearing the face mask properly and washing and sterilising hands continually.

Recently, Hessa Bint Essa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development, President of the Wellbeing Council, reviewed the efforts of the education sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery phase and the initiatives which were launched carrying the theme "healthy and active lifestyle", "mental health".

The meeting was attended by Abdul Rahman Al Hammadi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Performance Improvement, and members of the Council from federal and local government authorities and executive councils all over the UAE.

Dr. Amna Al Dahak Al Shamsi, Assistant Undersecretary for Welfare and Capacity Building Sector at the Ministry of Education, delivered a presentation about the most prominent achievements, initiatives and projects that promote the UAE’s efforts during the COVID-19 recovery phase.

During the meeting, Dr. Amna Al Dahak, spoke about the ministry of education's efforts to enhance the lives of students, parents, and academic staff.

She also highlighted the initiatives presented by the ministry under the theme "healthy and active life style" noting that (10.000) students, teachers and parents participated in the virtual superhero campaign to motivate people with diabetes while (111) students joined "healthy student leaders" virtual camps and (2,215) counselling sessions were organized for parents of people of determination by specialists held at education support centers "COVID-19" pandemic.

In the "Mental Health" theme, she noted that the "National Week for Prevention Against Bullying" under the theme "Cyberbullying", included a series of awareness workshops benefiting 320,988 people, and a guide to electronic bullying was prepared as an awareness and therapeutic guide targeting students, parents and schools, benefiting 41,000 people.

Additionally, a guide for academic and professional bullying prevention was also prepared to benefit 161 people. Therapeutic cartoon videos on electronic bullying have also been developed reaching 230,988 views while awareness posts were posted on social media with 66,188 views as well.

In the same theme, the achievements and targets of the "Policy of Prevention of Bullying in Public and Private Schools, which follows the ministry's curriculum", depend on several measures to support educational institutions through the provision of a safe school environment free of all kinds of physical, social, verbal, sexual and electronic bullying.