DUBAI // The Ministry of Education published a calendar for next academic year giving public school pupils in Dubai and the Northern Emirates a four-week winter break, while teachers will have two.
The new school year will begin September 3 for teachers and September 10 for pupils. The winter break will begin December 17 for both pupils and teachers, and the second term will not resume until January 14 for pupils.
Teachers and staff will return to school January 2, according to the calendar, published in Arabic on the ministry’s social media account and confirmed by an MoE official. However, January 2 is a Tuesday and a peculiar day for teachers to return. Calls and text messages to the education minister and undersecretary were not answered.
The spring break will be two weeks for pupils, beginning March 25, 2018 and ending April 8, 2018, while teachers and staff will have one week off, returning to school on April 1, 2018.
The last day of school for pupils will be July 5, 2018 and July 12, 2018 for teachers and staff.
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority, which regulates private schools in Dubai, said the ministry’s calendar has also been shared with private schools.
“The updated schools calendar is a decision of the UAE Cabinet, designed to give families more time to spend together, and to provide students with a greater home-school balance,” said Mohammed Darwish, the KHDA’s chief of regulations and permits commission.
“The updated calendar will be consistent across all schools in Dubai, enabling students, teachers and parents to give and get the most out of the academic year.”
Private schools will have the flexibility of adjusting their calendars by one week subject to KHDA approval, so long as the number of instruction days does not fall below 180.
The revised MoE school calendar mirrors the dates announced earlier this month by the Abu Dhabi Education Council, which operates public schools and regulates private schools in the capital region.
Adec’s published calendar, however, did not specify when teachers and staff would return from winter break. But public school staff said they were of the understanding they would have three weeks off, returning January 7. When asked about the new academic calendar last week, Adec confirmed the dates it published online but did not answer additional questions.
rpennington@thenational.ae
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The biog
Family: wife, four children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren
Reads: Newspapers, historical, religious books and biographies
Education: High school in Thatta, a city now in Pakistan
Regrets: Not completing college in Karachi when universities were shut down following protests by freedom fighters for the British to quit India
Happiness: Work on creative ideas, you will also need ideals to make people happy
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Marcel Sabitzer 10', 21'
Emil Forsberg 87'
Tottenham 0
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