Ramadan 2020: UAE schools reduce hours for Ramadan

Pupils will have their e-learning hours cut back for the length of the holy month

Officials said future schooling could mean a combination of physical lessons and e-learning. Reem Mohammed / The National

Schools across the country will reduce the length of their distance learning classes throughout Ramadan.

Pupils who attend private schools in Dubai will have their school day reduced to five hours from the usual seven.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai's private education regulator, said the majority of schools will begin classes at 9am and end at 2pm.

Schools that wish to start earlier or finish later can consult parents, amend timings, and seek approval from KHDA.

“During Ramadan, the whole school community – including students, teachers and parents will be spending extra time in prayer with their families. We ask you to be mindful of this with regards to the amount of homework and assignments set for students,” KHDA said in a notice sent to schools.

Private and charter schools in Abu Dhabi will also reduce school timings to five hours a day during Ramadan.

For young pupils, school hours may be reduced further, the emirate’s Department of Education and Knowledge said.

Schools may have classes from 9.30am to 12.30pm for kindergarten and early years, and 9.30am to 2pm for pupils in higher grades.

"This is in the interest of granting schools and parents maximum flexibility while ensuring that pupils' educational progress and well-being is taken care of," Adek said.

Private schools that follow the Ministry of Education's curriculum will also have shorter hours during the holy month.

The ministry said pupils would have their e-learning classes set to no longer than 30 minutes from the 40 minutes earlier across every education stage.

Kindergarten pupils, who are aged four and five, will have 15 classes per week, totalling seven-and-a-half hours over five days.

Those aged six to 11, in grades 1 to 4, will also have 15 classes per week with their school day of one hour and 40 minutes held from 1.45pm to 3.25pm.

Pupils aged 12 to 14, who attend grades 5 to 8, will have their school days reduced to two-and-a-half hours, beginning at 11am and ending at 1.30pm. Each day will comprise five 30-minute classes. The ministry said those pupils should have no more than 17 classes per week.

Pupils aged 15 to 17, in grades 9 to 12, will have a three-hour day with classes beginning at 11am and ending at 2.05pm. Classes for these pupils differ according to their disciplines.

Since 2015, pupils at state schools have been able to choose one of four streams: general, professional, advanced and elite. Previously, pupils could only choose between the scientific or literary stream.

All pupils follow the general stream from ages six to 14, after which they can select the professional or vocational branch of education.

One year later, pupils can choose to join the advanced stream, dependent on their performance. The elite stream is for academically outstanding pupils.

During Ramadan, general-stream pupils will have 14 classes per week while trilingual general-stream pupils will take 15 classes per week.

Pupils in the advanced stream and trilingual advanced stream will have 21 classes per week, while the elite-stream pupils will have 22 classes per week – totalling 11 hours of school per week.

Applied stream pupils will have 20 classes – or 10 hours’ tuition – per week.