Covid-19: Dubai schools share staff vaccination status, add breaks for students to wash hands

Some institutions have started with their scheduled examinations online

Many schools in Dubai have been sharing the staff vaccination data with their parent communities and are adding frequent ‘clean breaks’ to their daily timetable so that students get to wash their hands more often.

This is being done in a bid to encourage hand hygiene and allay the fear of parents who are wary of sending their children to schools for face-to-face learning after a steep rise in infections.

School leaders also say that a small section of parents who are willing to send their children to school seem to be accepting Covid-19 as a part of their life, which now seems to be having milder outcomes.

They explain some feel on-site learning is imperative to achieving satisfactory learning milestones.

ALSO READ:

• UAE: Students, who were Covid-positive just before new school term, set to return to campus

• UAE: For Covid babies, life has always been behind a mask

Dr Sheela Menon, Principal, Ambassador School, Dubai said, “In consideration of the increase in the number of Covid–19 cases in children and families, we have been given approval by KHDA for distance learning for two weeks, till 14 January. As a school, we have been sharing with parents the Covid-19 as well as the staff vaccination data. Most of the staff members have taken the booster dose as well.”

She adds, “At present a large majority of parents are apprehensive in sending children to school for various reasons. The major one being that children below 12 are not yet vaccinated. Additionally, reports about a spike in the number of cases even for those who are vaccinated and the pace at which it is spreading is another reason to add to the parents' anxiety. Moreover, we are experiencing more children getting impacted with family members getting infected.”

Educational institutions are constantly reviewing the situation, taking all possible steps to ensure that the health and safety protocols are being followed in the strictest manner possible.

Menon later says, “There is a small percentage of parents especially in the lower classes who want to send their wards to school and seem to have accepted variants of Covid as a part and parcel of life. When in school, frequent breaks are added to ensure children get to wash hands often and sharing of resources has been stopped for the longest time possible.”