Six Abu Dhabi schools get blue tier status after 85% students given Covid jabs

Six more schools in Abu Dhabi have reached the ‘blue tier’ status after achieving a vaccination rate of over 85 per cent among students physically attending school.

This allows the schools to commence their gradual return to pre-pandemic school operations, according to the emirate’s education regulators.

In a message issued on Twitter on Tuesday, the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek) said: “Congratulations to Al Dhaher School, New Indian Model School, The Philippine School, Our Own English High School, The Model Private School and AlSaad Indian School for reachingblue tier status! Over 85 per cent of the students physically attending school are vaccinated.”

According to Adek, from January 2022, the Blue Schools initiative saw a successful increase in vaccination rates with 4 percent of Abu Dhabi Private and Charter Schools currently in the blue tier category, 8.8 per cent in the green tier, 19.8 percent in the yellow tier and 67.4 per cent in the orange tier.

Students of these schools will now be able to enjoy relaxing some of the Covid-19 precautionary measures, including reduced social distancing requirements, relaxed mask-wearing protocols, increased classroom and school transport capacity, and a return to extra-curricular activities, in-school events and field trips.

Parents will also be able to attend on-campus macro bubble level events whilst adhering to entry requirements.

Blue Schools

Last year, Adek had rolled out the Blue Schools Initiative that recognises vaccination as the key path to recovery and encourages immunisation of all students, increasing their protection against Covid-19 and minimising the impact of possible infections.

The private and charter schools are now tiered based on student vaccination rates.

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The four tiers are: ‘Orange’ for schools with less than 50 per cent of students vaccinated, ‘Yellow’ for schools with 50-60 per cent of students vaccinated, ‘Green’ for schools with 65-84 per cent of students vaccinated and ‘Blue’ for schools with 85 per cent and above students vaccinated.

Vaccination of students under 16 continues to remain voluntary, according to government protocols.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE