UAE schools revert to distance learning until May 8
The Ministry of Education (MoE) this evening announced that schools throughout the UAE will return to distance learning until Friday.
The measure follows emergency alerts to residents issued today as tensions in the region escalate.
On April 9, after a ceasefire in the US-Israel-Iran conflict had gone into effect, five missiles launched from Iranian territory triggered the UAE emergency alert system within three and-and-a-half hours.
In these circumstances, the educational authorities and the schools swiftly shifted towards remote learning platforms so that academic activities could continue. For the time being, schools are sticking to regular timetables while monitoring official updates.
Institutions continue to coordinate with the authorities and they are likely to notify the parents and students immediately in case of any changes. So far, classes are continuing in an online format, as planned.
Maintaining flexible systems
The most recent change follows the return of students in all schools across the UAE to face-to-face learning on Monday 20 April after almost seven weeks of online education.
Remote learning had been originally offered as a precautionary measure due to the Local safety problems involving the U.S.-Israeli dealings with Iran. Schools, nurseries and universities had worked in a heightened state of readiness with blended returns.
Various education regulators also stepped up their safety preparedness with inspections, training programmes and operational reviews.
Earlier in the year, authorities had made clear that institutions would need to be prepared to "switch between on-campus and remote learning as circumstances change over time" — advice now being implemented again.
Here, the education regulators and the schools have one clear priority: to keep systems in place that can continue to deliver learning "as normal" no matter what is happening on the ground.
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