Abu Dhabi - Because of reduced school hours during the holy month of Ramadan and end of term approaching, many parents are considering taking their kids out early.
Published: Wed 8 Jun 2016, 5:59 PM
Last updated: Wed 8 Jun 2016, 6:41 PM
Two more weeks are left for school holidays, but majority of parents are already thinking of summer break for their children.
Because of reduced school hours during the holy month of Ramadan and end of term approaching, many parents are considering taking their kids out early.
The Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) has announced that the end of the school year for students in Grades 1 - 11 is June 23, while kindergarten (KG) children have already finished the school year on May 26.
"I have two sons in school, grades seven and nine, and I know it's early days, but still it seems that not much learning done in school and most extra curriculum activities have already been stopped," said Lisa Dowell, a British resident in Abu Dhabi.
"We consider to take our sons out of school a bit early as they come home bored and drained of energy, For a few days, they could do some studying at home," she added.
As per Adec, during the holy month there is a reduced school timetable, which affects all students in Grade One to 11.
For the remaining days before the summer holidays, boys will start classes at 8.15am and finish at 1.15pm, while girls will start at 9am and finish at 1.55pm.
Class timings are reduced from 45 to 40 minutes and the duration of the morning assembly has been shortened to five minutes and break time is only 10 minutes.
"There may be less school time during Ramadan and many students and perhaps teachers too are already in holiday mood, but I think it's wrong to take the kids out of school early," said Natalie Maillaud, a French resident and mother of a seven-year-old girl.
"Not only it would teach children to disrespect Ramadan, which is part of the fabric of the society we live in. Whether we are Muslims or not, but it would also be impractical. We already paid for school fees, bus transport etc, so it's not as if we are saving any money out of it," she added.
silvia@khaleejtimes.com