Up to Dhs250,000 fine for schools failing to comply with COVID-19 protocols in Abu Dhabi

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

All the schools in Abu Dhabi has been told to strictly adhere to the COVID-19 precautionary measures as all educational institutions in the emirate get ready to welcome students from Sunday.

The Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) has asked all schools to submit daily compliance self-check reports to it and fines for non-compliance violations range from Dhs10,000 to Dhs250,000.

Schools will also be regularly visited by ADEK’s compliance inspectors to see if all the protocols are in place or not.

The ADEK has conducted over 200 compliance inspection visits to Private and Charter Schools across the Emirate to ensure their readiness to safely welcome students back to in-class education for the Academic Year 2021/22.

ADEK’s Health and Safety team has conducted inspection visits to 221 Abu Dhabi schools who successfully received a No Objection Certificate to reopen.

ADEK has given schools that failed to meet the strict compliance protocols three calendar days to rectify areas of non-compliance before being visited again by ADEK’s Health and Safety team.

Ahead of the Academic Year 2021/22, the emirate’s Private and Charter Schools were advised of mandatory adherence to a comprehensive health and safety compliance checklist in order to obtain a No Objection Certificate permitting their reopening.

Schools which fail their third inspection they would be denied the option to reopen for face-to-face learning, and they will be required to return school fees to parents.