Thursday, May 17, 2012

Gulf News

Dubai: The unified academic calendar for schools and colleges will be implemented fully in all schools and universities across the country from the new academic year.

The decision has been taken at the federal level and no exemptions will be permitted, according to Humaid Mohammad Obaid Al Qutami, Minister of Education.

Al Qutami told Gulf News: When deciding the calendar we were aware of the difficulties faced by many schools and universities, which are linked to foreign educational systems. We see no harm in these schools having links to foreign systems. But we dont see this has anything to do with the unification of the holidays and breaks.

He said the ministry is willing to be flexible on minor issues and added that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research as well as the Ministry of Education were entrusted by the Cabinet to implement the goals of unification, which will be achieved completely from the following academic year nationwide.

But the confusion over the academic calendar of private schools continues as many parents are still awaiting circulars from the institutions on exam and holiday dates.

While schools in Dubai have been given leeway by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) to follow their respective calendars, the Ministry of Education insisted yesterday that the unified calendar will be implemented to protect family bonds and make life easier for families living in the UAE.

KHDA yesterday said that it will stick by its decision announced on Sunday.

Exemption

It added that KHDA will exempt private schools from following the unified calendar on a case by case basis, provided the schools comply with the number of school days and school hours approved by the authority.

The ministry said that the Abu Dhabi Educational Council (Adec) had insisted that there will be no problem with the 183 schools in Abu Dhabi.

Adec has been able to implement the calendar without any problem and we see no problem in its implementation in other parts of the country, the ministry said.

By Shafaat Shahbandari, Staff Reporter

Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.