UAE Weather: All Dubai schools must shut and switch to distance learning on Thursday and Friday, says KHDA

All Dubai schools must close and offer distance learning to students on Thursday 2 May and Friday 3 May due to predicted inclement UAE weather, according to an announcement by the KHDA today. The authority stated:

“With unstable weather predicted, all Dubai private schools, nurseries, and universities must offer distance learning on Thursday, May 2 & Friday, May 3. Stay safe everyone.”

With unstable weather predicted, all Dubai private schools, nurseries, and universities must offer distance learning on Thursday, May 2 & Friday, May 3. Stay safe everyone.

— KHDA | هيئة المعرفة والتنمية البشرية بدبي (@KHDA) April 30, 2024

The KHDA has taken the decision to require schools to close and offer distance learning to ensure that all students will be able to receive their instruction, regardless of where they live or how bad the weather gets.

The key message is that no family, student, teacher or member of school staff should be placing themselves at risk and that safety is paramount.

 

Rain, storms and wind on UAE weather forecast 

Unstable weather is once again predicted this week, with thunder, lightning and heavy rain expected from 6am on Thursday, May 2 through to 4pm, depending on your exact location in the emirates.

Wind speeds in excess of 40 miles per hour will reach Level 8 on the Beaufort Scale with sand significantly reducing horizontal visibility.

The UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) warns that:

“[There will be] moderate to heavy rainfall over scattered areas with lightning and thunder at times and a probability of hail, starting from the West by Wednesday night. [This will] extend over most areas of the country on Thursday. [The storms will be] centred over western, coastal and some Eastern areas.”

Weather forecast for Thursday 2 May 2024, from Rain.ae

The weather front is being caused by “an extension of a surface low pressure from the Red Sea accompanied with humid South-easterly winds.”

What about students taking exams?

The decision to close schools this Thursday has sent shockwaves amongst students who are preparing to sit their international exams this week. Papers from both the IB and the IGCSE curricula are scheduled to take place on Thursday, but students will be unable to sit them if they are not allowed on the school premises. These international exams are set to take place at the same time across the globe, and online alternatives are not an option. Parents and students have been concerned that this might mean they will have to re-sit the exams at a later date.

SchoolsCompared asked the KHDA for comment and were told that such exam students should expect to receive details directly from their own school.

More rain after the floods

In Dubai the clear-up is still ongoing from catastrophic rainfall on Monday 15th of April to Tuesday 16th April which exceeded all previous records of daily rainfall in at least the last 75 years since 1949 when records began. About 25cm (10in) of rain – roughly twice the UAE’s yearly average – fell in a single day, leaving much of Dubai’s infrastructure under water. The impact has been severe across the region and have included deaths, disease, and homelessness – with knock-on impacts on education, families and children. Investment in Distance Learning has without doubt helped – and the regulators have been insistent that schools must support families without judgement. The government is working on multiple fronts to support families and speed up the recovery, including insisting that insurance claims are dealt with swiftly.