Abu Dhabi prepped to welcome students across 205 school campuses

Guidelines to reopen private schools across the emirate of Abu Dhabi to ensure a safe start to the new academic year 2020/21 have been approved.

The Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Committee for the Covid-19 Pandemic, in coordination with Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK), have approved plans outlined by private schools across the capital emirate to reopen with physical attendance.

Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Committee for the COVID-19 Pandemic, in coordination with @ADEK_tweet approves private schools’ plans to reopen with physical attendance for the upcoming academic year. pic.twitter.com/4OJfHxgJDX

— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@admediaoffice) August 16, 2020

Strict compliance policies for 205 private schools in Abu Dhabi have been put in space, to facilitate sterilisation and preventive protocols, while ADEK will conduct field visits prior to and during the new academic year.

Meanwhile, five academic models – full-day face-to-face learning, half-day face-to-face learning, alternating days, alternating weeks and hybrid model – have been made available to private schools in Abu Dhabi to balance between in-classroom and online learning, while adhering to strict precautionary measures, ADEK confirmed. Online learning is optional for the entire first term of the new academic year, subject to prior coordination with the school, it added.

Students’ return to the classrooms will be staggered – KG1/FS2 to Grade 5/Year 6 will return in-person from the first day of school, while all other Grades/Years will return 4 weeks after school starts.

The UAE’s Ministry of Education recently announced that parents were at will to opt for a preferred academic model for their children enrolled across schools in the country.

Read: Parents to choose their children’s mode of education – UAE education ministry

Private schools in Dubai also have the leeway to choose an approach suitable to them, depending on the size, location and number of students.

Read also: Private schools in Dubai can opt for a suitable teaching approach

Last month, KHDA issued a list of 100-plus protocols for the re-opening of private schools across the emirate later this year.

Read: KHDA issues list of protocols for reopening of private schools in Dubai

Meanwhile, an AI-powered mobile app, that leverages existing CCTV network to enforce health protocols across schools in the UAE, has been launched.

Also read: New AI-based mobile app Wai-Eye to assist schools in Covid-19 compliance