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Sharjah: Covid-19 PCR tests required for some students to return to school in January

All school staff and students aged 12 and over are required to present a negative PCR test result not older than 96 hours to return to their campus in January after the winter break

by Varun Godinho

December 29, 2021

Sharjah has confirmed that it will resume face-to-face learning for all students in private schools, nurseries, educational centres and institutes at the start of the upcoming term on January 3, 2022.

However, all school staff and students aged 12 and over are required to present a negative PCR test result not older than 96 hours before they can be allowed to enter the premises following the winter break.

#SPEA, in coordination with the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority, announces the continuity of in-person learning starting January 3, 2022, along with the health and safety protocols that must be followed by all #Sharjah private schools. pic.twitter.com/lKMgrcDF6j

— هيئة الشـارقة للتعليم الخاص (@shjspea) December 29, 2021

Also, classroom and extracurricular activities, including morning assembly and school trips, are suspended until further notice.

The announcement was made by the Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA), in coordination with the National Emergency and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA), on Wednesday.

Starting in January, all private educational institutions in Sharjah will be open only for four days a week, from Mondays-Thursdays. They would therefore have a three-day weekend each week from Fridays through to Sundays.

Read: Sharjah private educational institutions to have four-day week

The SPEA said that all health and safety protocols must accompany the resuming of face-to-face learning in schools. The private education regulator also urged all school staff to take their Covid-19 booster shots.

In related developments across the country, Dubai’s local private education regulator, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), said that it would not be enforcing remote learning at the start of the new term and that face-to-face learning would resume in all private schools in Dubai on January 3.

In Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) has said that all private and public schools, colleges, universities, and training institutes will switch to remote learning for the first two weeks of the new school term which will begin in January 2022.

Read: Abu Dhabi schools to implement distance learning for two weeks