Abu Dhabi students in grade 6 and above will have 100% distance learning

All students in Abu Dhabi studying in grade 6 and above will have 100 per cent distance learning as their medium of instruction, officials announced on Tuesday.

It added that the decision was made “in the interest of students’ health and safety.”

The directive was issued by the Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Committee for the Covid-19 pandemic and communicated via a tweet by the Abu Dhabi Media Office.

However, an exception was made for students in grades 9 to 12 who were given the option of attending face-to-face classes if they require to take international exams to qualify for entrances into universities.

أعلنت لجنة إدارة الطوارئ والأزمات والكوارث الناجمة عن جائحة كوفيد-19 في إمارة أبوظبي عن استمرار التعلم عن بعد لطلاب الصف السادس/السنة السابعة فما فوق، بعد المتابعة المتواصلة للإجراءات الوقائية المطبقة وحرصاً على صحة وسلامة الطلاب. pic.twitter.com/iJG3gdoHff

— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@admediaoffice) September 22, 2020

Last month, the UAE’s Minister of Education, Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi outlined a phased return of students to campuses at the start of the year.

Students across the country are permitted to undergo a hybrid system of learning for the first semester of this academic year which began in September.

However, different emirates have rolled out individual plans for the return of students to their campuses.

In Sharjah, students continued 100 per cent e-learning for the first four weeks of the new term. Starting Sunday, September 27, the Sharjah Private Education Authority, said that students may return to their campus for face-to-face learning.

Read: Sharjah private schools to permit campus attendance from September 27

In Dubai, schools across the emirate reopened with a hybrid learning model at the start of the year, although all staff from these schools underwent Covid-19 testing before returning to their campuses.