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Students in public and private schools in the UAE would benefit if the current school hours were shortened by an hour, a member of the Federal National Council (FNC) told a meeting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Speaking at the meeting, FNC member Obaid Al Salami said, “Students in both public and private schools are exhausted and fatigued due to the long school hours, which start when they wake up at 5 am and continue until seven or eight classes until they arrive in the afternoon. Go home at 4 or later.”
Children often experience family burnout as mountains of homework and projects await them, he added, noting that there is no room for rest, hobbies, community involvement or family visits.
“Does the Ministry of Education have a plan to assess the negative consequences of the current long school hours and reduce the school day by an hour each day to end at two o’clock?” he asked.
Responding to a question, Education Minister Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi said schools in the UAE had fewer school hours compared to most countries in the world. “If we look at the school hours each day, the shorter time on Friday has been compensated and added to the rest of the school day. Students have to meet certain educational standards, whether we increase school hours or reduce working hours.
“But referring to the current situation and the average domestic hours, the UAE is 5.4 hours, Sweden is 7 hours; South Korea is 8 hours, Germany is 5.5 hours, and Finland is 5 hours. Therefore, our school day is less than most countries.
“If we measure these daily hours by the number of days in school, if we multiply the hours by the number of days, some countries study a total of 180 days. In the UAE, the figure is about 1,015 hours, in Sweden it is 1,246 hours for the whole year, The international average is 1,246 hours.”
He also pointed out that working hours in the UAE have changed and this must be taken into account. “The change in the number of working days per week in the country has to be taken into account as it has been reduced from five to four and a half days, so whether it is a working day or a school day, there is a process for compensating.”
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