Some private schools defy ministry ruling
START ACADEMIC YEAR LATER THIS MONTH INSTEAD OF AUGUST 31
Many private schools did not start their classes in time for the academic year 2014- 15 in spite of the decree issued by the Ministry of Education in March to unify the school calendar.
Earlier this year, theministry issued a decree stating that all schools should start the 201415 academic year on August 31. However, many private schools in Dubai and Sharjah are not adhering to the decree and are preparing to start classes later this month.
Hessa Al Khaja, head of Private and Quality Education at Sharjah Educational Zone, said requests by private schools that requested postponement of the start of thenewschool year had been rejected by the zone.
However, some private schools sent SMS messages to parents, informing them that next Sunday, September 7, will be the first day of the school, violating the school calendar set by theministry.
Sharjah Educational Zone said private schools which postponed the beginning of the school year, will be sent a warning letter or fined as they have violated the ministry’s circular.
Many private schools in Dubai also have not started classes yet. However, they did receive approval from the Knowledge and Human Development Authority ( KHDA).
Abdul Rahman Nasser, Chief of Customer Relations at KHDA, said the authority received many requests from schools to postpone the start of the academic year by a certain number of days ( none of the requests exceeded one week), and a number of themwere approved.
Flexibility in cases
He said the private schools wanted to postpone the opening date because they follow curriculums that are unified with school branches outside the country.
Nasser said the unified calendar law gives the KHDA the authority to deal with these cases with flexibility.
“Schools that did
receive approval are required to compensate for the days in order to complete the required 189 days of schooling for all three terms. School administrations are required to develop the mechanism to compensate for these days.”
A KHDA spokesperson confirmed that new schools in Dubai are an exception and so have received approval to open later this month.
GEMS Education said two of its new schools, GEMS FirstPoint School and GEMS Metropole School, received approval by the KHDA to operate from September 7 and September 21, respectively.
Kings’ School Nad Al Sheba said it received KHDA approval to open on September 14 and Kings’ School Al Barsha received approval to open on September 16.
Kanwal Ahmad, who is enrolling her child at Kings Al Barsha, said she does not mind the September 16 opening.
“I don’t mind that the school is starting after the other schools because they received approval from the KHDA to do so. I trust the KHDA has our best interests and would not have approved it if it was going to be harmful to our children’s education.”
Unified calendar
Another parent, Samar Al Khatib, said she would have liked it if all schools had a unified calendar. “I don’t think that it is a big deal for my daughter’s school to start on September 7. However, I think unifying the school calendar is a great idea. Itwould have been nice if schools complied with the ministry’s decree.”