Coronavirus: UAE education ministry confirms end-of-term dates for public and private schools

July 2 will be the last day for pupils while teachers and staff will break a week later

Atika, Aliza and Aiza Rehman work on their laptops at home in Dubai. Schools will break for the summer from the first weekend in July. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Schoolchildren will start their summer break from July 2, the Ministry of Education has said.

More than one million pupils in government and private schools will start their end-of-term break as scheduled despite significant upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

July 9 will be the last day at work for teachers and other staff. Officials have clarified there had been no change to the original dates announced earlier.

Schools have adopted new teaching methods using a mix of downloadable assignments and live broadcasts from teachers since March, when the scale of the outbreak became clear.

At 185 days, the 2019-2020 school year would have been the longest to date – up from 175 in 2016.

But several days were lost to closures due to heavy rain and flooding in the winter, and disruption due to the virus outbreak in early March.

When the new school year begins in September, it is still unclear if schools will operate at 100 per cent of its capacity as authorities are yet to make a decision.

Schools and government officials have suggested several scenarios, including one in which 70 per cent of lessons are taught in school and 30 per cent from home.

The Ministry of Education said any decision would depend on the virus situation in the coming months.

Most school curriculums do not have final exams this year and the vast majority of pupils heading to university are to be judged on coursework and previous achievement.

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