How KHDA kept Dubai schools going through the pandemic

Faisal Masudi | Chief Reporter

Reopening schools was a harder decision than closing them amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but cooperation with all stakeholders ensured a safe return to classrooms, the Director General of Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) said.

As Dubai succeeds in gradually restoring normality to life in the city, Dr Abdulla Al Karam told Gulf News in an exclusive interview how KHDA worked with many authorities and the school community to minimise the disruption caused by the pandemic to education.

The collective efforts have paved the way to a gradual return to full in-person learning at private schools in Dubai, starting from October 3 – just around a month into the new academic year. Until September 30, parents will have the choice of distance learning or face-to-face learning for their children. From October 3, all teaching and learning at Dubai private schools will be face-to-face only. After this date, students who wish to continue with distance learning must provide a medical certificate issued by Dubai Health Authority.

Also resuming are sports and swimming classes, school trips, excursions and camps, after-hours extra-curricular activities, performances, assemblies and other events at school or at an external venue. School buses are also running at full capacity.

The move to full in-person schooling has partly been facilitated by the high rates of vaccination among teaching staff and schoolchildren aged 12 to 17 in Dubai. Almost all (more than 96 per cent) of teaching staff and the overwhelming majority (70 per cent) of children aged 12 to 17 in Dubai have been vaccinated.

Looking back a little more than a year since schools first closed, Dr Al Karam provided rare insights into the discussions at KHDA (which regulates private schools in Dubai) while negotiating the twists and turns of the unfolding pandemic.

Sudden shift

He said the enormity of the situation facing learners and educators “didn’t really register” until March 2020, when schools in the UAE were suddenly told to move their spring breaks forward by two weeks to prepare for what at the time was expected to be a brief shift to full distance learning. Back then, when COVID-19 cases were still relatively low, there was hope that “this might be all over” soon, Al Karam said. “The dialogue was: ‘Can we really shift the spring break; what will happen to people’s commitments, travel plans and air tickets?’” he recalled.

Looking at reopening

However, what was initially meant to be two weeks of distance learning was eventually extended until the end of the academic year (July). Although the decision “was hard, we felt better, as we were moving towards not closing, but towards opening” schools again for the coming academic year. Throughout the closure and summer break, KHDA, in coordination with other government authorities, worked on the “reopening protocols” in September for schools.

“And this is where actually it was like: Hang on, but to reopen we need this and we need that. Well, we didn’t ask all these questions when we were closing schools ... And this is where we realised how complicated it was to reopen. To close, it was very simple,” Al Karam said.

Taking a stand

While some people hoped the virus would die out over the summer, others believed it would roll into the next academic year, he added. Regardless, Al Karam said, the KHDA’s stand was clear. “Let’s put the protocol in place, let’s work towards telling people, ‘Yes, there will be schools in September, one way or the other’. And we need to tell people right now.”

New milestone

The protocol, which covers the roles of authorities, schools, students and parents in safely sending children back to the classrooms in person, are “one of the biggest milestones” that the KHDA has achieved in working with many government entities at the local and federal level, Al Karam added.

He added that the KHDA, “working with and appreciating” many government agencies — from health to emergency, from state to federal — made it clear that schools would reopen in September and announced the protocol. “We said we will work through the summer to have everything in place, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Readiness plans

KHDA checked schools’ “readiness plans” for reopening safely. Despite a worldwide increase in cases in late August, Dubai schools welcomed back students in September, although a majority of pupils chose to continue distance learning. “I think the most important factor was the government saying ‘Going to school is an option for those who feel comfortable’,” Al Karam said.

Growing confidence

In September, only around 20 per cent of students had opted for in-person learning, on all or some school days. The KHDA had set up a dashboard and followed the ratio almost on a daily basis. He said every increase, even if just 0.1 per cent, meant a higher “confidence factor and a comfort factor”. By December, at the end of Term 1, the ratio had risen to almost 65 per cent. “It showed the systems were working,” he said.

Dips and spikes

In January, “a spike in number of cases” brought the ratio down to 30 per cent, “which was fine, as it reflected the situation in the community and how they felt about it”, Al Karam added. The ratio “naturally” followed the dips and spikes in cases but, more importantly, it showed the protocol was working well, “almost on auto-pilot at times”, be it arranging distance, blended or in-person classes or handling cases in school, Al Karam added.

‘The story isn’t finished’

Now in the last term of the academic year, he said “the story is not finished yet”. The protocol will continue to guide not only the “good times” but “more so for when we don’t have visibility...”

Al Karam said: “I have never seen so much collaboration take place in any other year ... It really feels like we are in this together.”

He added that another lesson learnt is that “it’s not natural for children not to be in school, not being physically together with their friends and not sharing the love and enjoying the experience”.

‘We’re stronger now’

Al Karam said: “We’ve learned so much in the past one year. And honestly speaking, some of what we learned, maybe we’ll have to unlearn soon, and pick up something new.”