Private schools across Abu Dhabi have been told to remain open for UAE Commemoration Day, which will be observed this Thursday.
Officials from the Department of Education and Knowledge began contacting schools this week after some had planned to close for the day.
Commemoration Day, previously known as Martyrs’ Day, honours the sacrifices of men and women who have died in the service of the nation.
It is usually observed on November 30 and has previously been a public holiday. Authorities made the decision to bring it forward by a day, meaning some families who had planned to go away were caught out.
Tara, a British parent living in Abu Dhabi, said she was forced to cancel a family holiday to Oman after her sons’ schools reversed their decision to close for the day.
She said that her nine-year-old is a pupil at Brighton College Abu Dhabi, while her 13-year-old attends Cranleigh Abu Dhabi.
“We planned to travel during the long weekend and my husband and I both managed to get a day off on Thursday, which is very difficult for us,” Tara said.
“After that, the schools came back and said there is no holiday on Thursday. We have already decided to cancel our travel plans to Oman and will be staying in the UAE now.
“It’s just inconvenient. Managing logistics is so tough and it’s tricky to get time off work. Now my children will be going to school on Thursday and I will be heading to work.”
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Read more:
UAE Cabinet announces Commemoration Day
As Commemoration Day approaches, the sense of loss feels closer to home
UAE Rulers honour martyrs on Commemoration Day
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Tracey Boux, whose daughter Scarlett, five, is at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi, said she was relieved when she found out the school would remain open on Thursday.
“I’m working on Thursday and I was panicking about what to do,” Ms Boux said.
“Normally school holidays are aligned with the public holidays at places of work.
“We were told the school would be closed. But later we got another email saying the school would be open. Many parents didn’t know the school would be open.”
She said that many of her friends who were planning to take advantage of the long weekend created by National Day falling on Sunday, December 2, still intend to stick to their plans and go away on Thursday.
One Egyptian parent of two, whose children both study at Al Yasmina Academy in Abu Dhabi, said their school had still not notified them about whether it would be open or closed on Thursday.
“They haven’t told us anything about the holiday yet,” she said.
“We’ve had no information from the school. We’re used to being informed at short notice but I don’t know who to blame, so we’ll just wait.”
A spokeswoman for Merryland International School said classes would continue on Thursday and that the school would be celebrating Commemoration Day.
To mark the day many schools have organised flag-raising ceremonies in the morning and are observing a minute of silence at 11.30am.
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
The low down
Producers: Uniglobe Entertainment & Vision Films
Director: Namrata Singh Gujral
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Nargis Fakhri, Bo Derek, Candy Clark
Rating: 2/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
