Relief for Asian schools over unified holidays

The confusion following the change in dates of school holidays and a new unified calendar for schools has been cleared following an announcement by Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). Asian schools in Dubai have been exempted from the ruling as the unified calendar will not affect them.

According to an earlier Wam report, the UAE Ministry of Education had issued an ordinance to unify the academic calendar of public and private schools for 2012-2013. However, most Indian schools had already started the academic year by the time the new announcement was made.

Following the announcement, Asian schools had cited concerns over the change in dates, which affected the school’s academic plans and holiday announcements which had already been communicated to parents in earlier circulars.

Taking into consideration the requests of Asian schools in Dubai, the KHDA on Tuesday announced the unified calendar would not affect Asian schools.

Commenting on the unified calendar, Mohammed Darwish, chief of Regulations and Compliance Commission at the Knowledge and the KHDA said: “Indian and Pakistani schools begin their academic year at different times than other schools by virtue of being linked to their respective education boards. These schools follow a different schedule in terms of examinations, declaration of results, holidays and other aspects relevant to curriculum delivery.”

Schools following the Indian curriculum have already started the first semester of the new academic year. Most Indian schools follow the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum as a few others also follow the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) curriculum.

Darwish added: “The KHDA held a consultative session with some of these schools about two months ago and discussed the timing of these dates and holidays in line with their curriculum delivery and their respective education boards. A resulting communication was then sent to the schools confirming dates in line with this consultation. As these schools (and parents) have already planned their academic year in accordance with this consultation, the resultant KHDA communication sent to these schools regarding their key dates for the upcoming academic year is still valid.”

According to the KHDA academic calendar for Asian schools, the summer vacation will begin on July 1, 2012, and conclude on September 9, 2012.

muaz@khaleejtimes.com