Sharjah private schools must return to 50% in-classroom learning before Oct 31

The Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA) has said that schools must necessarily achieve 50 per cent attendance on their premises before October 31, 2021.

The authority added that it would continue intensive supervisory visits to schools to inspect their compliance with Covid-19 safety protocols until October 31.  Names of non-compliant schools will be submitted to the sanctions committee.

In addition, it will work towards strengthening the role of the school’s Covid-19 team which will ensure students maintain physical distancing from one another and that students above the age of seven wear masks.

In a meeting of the SPEA held on Sunday, Dr. Muhadtha Al Hashemi, chairman of the Sharjah Private Education Authority; Ali Al Hosani, director of the SPEA met with the managers of all private schools in Sharjah.

The SPEA said that that the number of students in the classroom could not exceed those permitted before the pandemic. It also raised the percentage of students in buses to 100 per cent, calling for parents to register in the electronic platform “Your Children are Safe”, in addition to reaching 100 per cent vaccination rate for school workers for the non-excluded groups.

The authority has urged parents to vaccinate their children over 12 years, fully adhere to the amended guidelines that will be issued during this week and provide a medical report approved by a health authority for students with medical exemptions.

Dr. Muhadditha Al-Hashemi, the chairman of the SPEA, said that the decision to comprehensively return to the face-to-face education system was based on many indicators that the authority developed earlier.

It included the schools’ ability to deal with Covid-19 in the required manner, ensuring the vaccination rates are not less than 90 per cent for all the educational staff, and ensuring educational institutions were at least 90 per cent compliant with all the precautionary requirements.

Ali Al Hosani, director of SPEA, called on all school principals to review the amended guideline that will be distributed to schools soon to ensure a safe return to the face-to-face education system.