Students resume classes as new academic year begins

Mohamed Ibrahim, Staff Reporter

The state and private schools, which follow the curriculum of the Ministry of Education, in addition to kindergartens and adult education, will commence the new school year 2019-2020 today with one million and one hundred thousand students. From Sunday, Sept.1, 2019, the first semester will begin to last for about 77 days excluding the weekends. The teaching, administrative and technical staff of about 26,000 members already started official duty last Sunday.

School Calendar

The first semester is scheduled to start on Sept.1 and last until Dec.12. The winter break will start from Dec.15 to Jan.9, 2020 for four weeks, including 20 working days. The administrative and teaching staff will begin the winter vacation on Dec.22 and end on Jan.2, 2020 for two weeks, including 10 working days.

Students will start the second semester on Jan.12, 2020, while all staff members will start on Jan.5, 2020. The spring vacation is scheduled to be two weeks long for students beginning on Mar.29 until Apr.9, compared to one week for staff members from Mar.29 to Apr.2.

Students will start the third semester on Apr.12, while the staff will resume work on Apr.5, 2020. The end of the academic year 2019-2020 for students is scheduled to end on July 2 and for the staff members on July 9. The total number of school days will be 185 days including exams.

Ahead of the beginning of the new academic year, the Ministry of Education has already provided the various factors that ensure the stability of the school community, and the smooth functioning of the educational process, during the new school year by intensifying efforts to receive students at various stages. The Ministry has also determined 14 major axes on which the new academic year 2019-2020 will be launched, within the readiness plan.

It further stressed the importance to provide lists of students enrolled in the ninth grade, and the teachers who failed to attend work on Sunday, Aug.25, with attachment for the reason to be submitted to the Director of Scope. Moreover, it emphasised the need to complete the procedures to add teachers transferred to the Manhal System, and cancel the task of the resigning and the transferred to other schools.

The Ministry stressed the importance of setting the school schedule for the first semester in line with the study plan for the academic year 2019-2020, taking into account the commitment to complete teacher’s quota (24-25 classes), and the distribution of students to classrooms taking into account the students’ density. It also urged parents to commit to students’ uniforms on the basis of the previously circulated guide, provided that Sept.5 will be a deadline to complete the procedures for the students’ registration on the Manhal System.

The Ministry also highlighted the importance of following up on the tuition fees for the old and new students, by notifying the parents to pay the fees no later than Thursday, Oct.3. 

Moreover, the Ministry focused on the importance of completing the procedures of evaluation of the administrative and teaching staff by Aug.31, taking into account the commitment to evaluation scales.

An earlier report said the opening of eight new schools in Dubai by September 2020 is all set to provide parents with more education choices. Creating over 13,000 new seats, the schools are being opened across different areas of Dubai.

Mohammed Darwish, CEO of Permits and Compliance sector at Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), Dubai, said, “The opening of eight new schools by 2020 will further strengthen Dubai’s private education sector and add to the wide variety of education offerings available to parents. A total of five schools will welcome students from the new academic year this year and an additional three are expected to open next year.”

The schools opening this year are located in Al Twar 2, Al Qusais, Jumeirah Village Triangle, Al Quoz and Jebel Ali among other areas.

“Every new school adds to the variety on offer in Dubai and it empowers parents with choice. Dubai has seen a steady increase in the number of schools offering good or better quality education, with an increase from 38 in schools in 2008 to 119 this year,” added Darwish.