Job Discussion Forums

[snorkel]

Any news on changes to next year's academic calendar for government institutions ? I've heard the HCT are considering giving time off around Christmas and Easter, but no confirmations.

[helenl]

Neither Christmas nor Easter are observed holidays here - why would a UAE government institution observe them?

[wajela]

Government schools are now on a three semester system. Twenty weeks for primary and high school was far too long.Makes sense to bring institutions into alignment. However the dates are around end of December and April rather that reference to western holidays

[Shakhbut]

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/government/unified-holidays-for-schools-and-universities-in-uae-1.795295

[veiledsentiments]

Finally!!! Parent since the 80s have been complaining about how their children's holidays and theirs do not match. Then there was the annual problem of the schools starting at one time and the universities starting earlier. That meant that a large number of the students were not back at the start of university classes... since the kids' school seemed to take precedence with the families. One of the causes of the total waste that the first month of classes tended to be... the annual parade of new class lists on an almost daily basis.

VS
(PS... do not refer to the holidays as "Christmas" or "Easter" even if they are accidentally close to that time. It can and will cause problems and may even cause them to delay the breaks in order to NOT appear to give Christian holidays. Keep quiet and you may end up with Christmas off.)

[helenl]

What impact will it have on the length of the summer holiday? If you get 5 weeks through the school year, won't that reduce (at HCT at least) the summer holiday by about 3 weeks?)

As VS says, parents may be happy (but I note it says public schools, don't some private schools follow a different schedule - I don't have kids so I don't know) but will those who enjoyed an extended summer break be so cheerful? Can't please everyone I guess.