The Graduation Ceremony Celebrations are Back On in Dubai! KHDA Confirms Private Schools can get ready to Party!

According to a tweet sent out by the KHDA, Dubai’s education regulator, graduation ceremonies in the emirate can now go ahead.

The KHDA gets the party started, with graduation ceremony go ahead. #SeriousDancingSkills

Notification of approval is specifically for senior students finishing high school. Health and safety protocols still need to be followed.

In its party like tweet (#Congraduations… We see what you did there!), the Knowledge and Human Development Authority wrote:

Great news for graduates! Graduation ceremonies for Dubai private school students finishing high school can go ahead this year, provided they keep in line with specific health & safety protocols.

SchoolsCompared.com will keep tabs of which schools will be taking part in celebrations, but hopes we will have to quickly abandon the project as the list gets too large: After almost two years of Covid, school leavers deserve to go out on a serious high. Teaching staff too need the chance to say a proper goodbye.

“We are so pleased that the KHDA has made this announcement, Matt Tompkins, Principal/CEO at GEMS First Point School – The Villa, told SchoolsCompared.com.  “We had provisionally planned to hold a virtual event, but we will now be discussing an in-person option with our Sixth Form students tomorrow morning. The safety of the students is always our priority and so we welcome the KHDA’s guidelines and protocols as we look to hold an ‘in-person’ ceremony to celebrate the achievements of our incredible Year 13 students.”

Tammy Murphy, Superintendent/CEO at GEMS Dubai American Academy, and Vice President and Chair of the Education Committee said in a statement that it was planning an in-person ceremony in early June at an external venue. “We submitted the request for approval to the KHDA School Portal as soon as we received the news and are awaiting approval.”

 

“The KHDA has set various protocols for schools to follow to ensure the safety of all attending while allowing us to honour and recognize our students. It is a win-win situation, and we will be adhering to set protocols to ensure that the graduation event is as safe as it is memorable for the whole DAA community.

“At GEMS Dubai American Academy we [now] have 262 graduates who are now even happier because they can graduate with their friends, teachers and parents.”

“We’re delighted with the announcement that in person graduations are now permitted, Sarah ORegan CEO/principal GEMS Wellington Silicon Oasis told SchoolsCompared.com.

“Our plan now is to have another celebration later in June, where all our graduates can be together in our auditorium and we can acknowledge their achievements and contributions to the WSO community over their time with us. This new celebration is being organised by students and teachers together. This gives us the opportunity we wanted to place our special young people centre stage as they leave us to go on to great things all around the world.”

Graduation: Dancing mandatory. Covid suits purely optional.