Private schools not affected by ministry rule
Published Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Ministry of Education's announcement early this week about unification of the academic year will not affect private schools, according to a report in 'Khaleej Times'.
Asian schools that follow their curricula's academic calendar will not be affected. For instance, Salma Fahim, Vice-Principal of the Asian International Private School in Western Region said next year's calendar for the school will remain the same but with a minor adjustment on the holidays.
"The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) only wants us to follow the federal holidays and we meet the number of instructional days which is 175," Fahim told the paper. Accordingly, the school has adjusted its holidays. The summer holidays will be from July 3 to September 4 and the winter break will be from December 18 to January 5, 2012.
VK Mathu, principal of the Abu Dhabi Indian School, also confirmed that the MoE rule is not going to affect the school calendar as it is in line with the ADEC's schedule.
The Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Bangladesh Islamia School follows the January-December calendar, and likewise will not be affected by the new rule.
"The federal calendar requires that we have two months summer vacation and 15 days of winter holiday, so we follow that," said Mir Anisul Hasan, Vice-Principal of the Bangladesh school.
The Philippine National School (PNS), which usually starts its academic calendar in August and ends in June or early July, has also alligned its calendar with the college and university admission period in the Philippines.
Institutes of applied technologies and adult education centres are also required to follow the schedule. However, private schools and foreign universities will be given flexibility provided they adhere to the school break schedules.