Wet UAE weather has caused chaos across parts of the country today, with schools closing in some emirates, while flooding and road closures have caused major traffic jams and made the school run even more hectic than usual for many UAE parents.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) issued a directive to schools in RAK and Fujairah to switch to online learning for Thursday 26 January and Friday 27 January due to the unstable weather forecasted, according to schoolscompared.com sources.
Meanwhile Australian International School in Sharjah and GEMS Wellington International School in Dubai choose to close “for safety reasons”, with the latter rapidly switching students to online learning to ensure continuity of learning instead.
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A GEMS spokesperson told SchoolsCompared:
“Three GEMS Education schools have switched to online learning today – GEMS Wellington International School, GEMS Winchester School – Fujairah and GEMS Westminster School – Ras Al Khaimah. This is due to the unstable weather conditions, with the latter two schools following the directives of the Ministry of Education. All other schools are [currently] open as usual.”
“In terms of India Republic Day, all but three GEMS Education schools offering the Indian curriculum have closed to mark the occasion. GEMS Legacy School, GEMS United Indian School – Abu Dhabi and GEMS Modern Academy remain open and are celebrating the day with students on campus.”
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A unique learning opportunity
However, many UAE schools have not allowed the wet weather to dampen their spirits.
For Bloom World Academy in Dubai, the downpour has created the perfect learning opportunity, with children getting into yellow waterproof jackets and boots to enjoy a lesson on how rain is made.
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Meanwhile at Brighton College Dubai, students rounded off an outdoor tag rugby session by splashing around in puddles.
And other schools have improvised in order to work with the weather and try to help ease the traffic. At Horizon English School, the school drop-off and pick-up times were extended by 35 minutes to allow extra time and enable a safer environment for everyone travelling to school. A notice to parents read:
“Despite the heavy rain, we would like to inform you that Horizon English School will remain open today. However, in order to ease congestion on the roads and to accommodate some of the flooded parking areas, we will be enabling an extended drop-off and pick-up period.
Please plan your schedule accordingly. We understand that the weather conditions may cause delays in the road and we apologise for any inconveniences caused as a result of timing changes.
We would like to remind you to ensure that your child is equipped with necessary rain gear and an umbrella as the weather forecast predicts that the rain will continue throughout the day.”
At Arbor School, Principal Brett Girven delivered a video message to parents from under an umbrella, explaining that the school was mainly still open, “although some play areas are out of action as they are currently more like swimming pools” and promising that there would be an update on whether or not after-school clubs and activities will still go ahead.
Share your experiences
How is your school dealing with the wet weather? Have you experienced disruption or is it business as usual? Has it turned into a unique learning opportunity? Please share your comments and photos to [email protected].
More information
Read more about how the news broke of freak weather conditions hitting Dubai here and here.
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