Dubai schools now have the option to change their start & finish times

We’ve all been through the cycle of being jolted awake by our 6am alarms, followed with the hectic morning routine of finding our homework from the night before. No, just us? Well, it seems like this is no longer the case for schools in Dubai, as The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (or KHDA) are planning making schools hours more flexible, to help ease the whole early morning traffic situation as well as being mindful of the wellbeing of pupils. Commenting at a Media Majlis on Thursday, KHDA’s Director General, Her Excellency, Aisha Miran stated that schools in Dubai can now look into doing flexible timings and need not follow a singular timetable imposed across the city’s diverse school sector, which also includes differences in curricula and extracurricular activities. But, the idea isn’t to change school hours overnight, “Any changes to school timings must be approved by KHDA,” she explained. She further explains, that it is also imperative to take into consideration children’s wellbeing as well as parents’ insights before making the big change. For most, the school day doesn’t begin at 8am when they get to school – it begins well before that. Kids and parents often spend about 30 minutes to an hour making the commute to and from school. And to tackle this very problem, Miran stated that the long-term solution to commute times would need to simply go beyond changing school hours. ALSO READ: Dubai schools revise October half term dates There needs to be a change with how Dubai’s neighbourhood and communities are planned, and the Dubai Education Masterplan (aka E33) is an initiative underway to bring schools closer to where families live. Which means, with schools being mere minutes away from homes, kids no longer have to rely on cars or buses as a means of transport – but rather can choose walking or biking as a form of convenient commute. This also makes for a great sustainable option. While the current solution of flexible timings, may offer some temporary relief with congestion, Miran also commented that families who depend on private modes of transport or school buses should also expect reasonable journey times,“Those who wish to take a private vehicle or bus should have an acceptable commute time. That’s ultimately our intention. Dubai’s urban plan has a target of 20 minutes, so everything should ideally be accessible within that 20-minute timeframe.”