Hope you are keeping safe. Kindly see below the latest edition of country updates across the MENA on latest news regarding education in the region. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or require additional information.

Bahrain: Public schools saw the return of students to schools.

Egypt: The new academic year 2020-2021 began on Saturday, 17 October 2020 and will end on Thursday, 24 June 2021.

UAE: Some UAE schools to offer only distance learning after suspected cases.

Visas and Immigration

UK visa services have now resumed across all visa application centres in the Gulf. Appointments are currently limited, the Priority Visa service is only available in UAE and Qatar, and the Super Priority Visa Services is not yet available in any location. Services and appointment availability are being kept under regular review. Our current service standard for all visit and Tier 4 student visas is 15 working days. UKVI is now (temporarily) issuing T4 students with a 90 day vignette to travel and collect their BRP in the UK, instead of the usual 30 day vignette. If due to travel restrictions your 30 day vignette expired before you were able to use it, UKVI will replace this with a new 90 day vignette free of charge.More information can be found here: https://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/en

Advice on entering the UK and self-isolation requirements:

https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control

New National Restrictions from 5 November

Going to school, college and university

The Government will continue to prioritise the wellbeing and long-term futures of our young people and will not be closing schools, colleges or universities. It remains very important for children and young people to attend, to support their wellbeing and education and help working parents and guardians. Senior clinicians still advise that school is the best place for children to be, and so they should continue to go to school. Schools have implemented a range of protective measures to make them safe.

The Prime Minister and Education Secretary have been clear that exams will go ahead next summer, as they are the fairest and most accurate way to measure a pupil’s attainment. We therefore need to keep schools and colleges open so that children are able to keep progressing towards exams and the next stage of education or employment. Students now have more time to prepare for their exams next year, as most AS, A levels and GCSEs will be held 3 weeks later to help address the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Universities have welcomed students back and we have published guidance advising universities on reopening to ensure they have safety measures in place to minimise the spread of the virus. Universities and adult education settings should consider moving to increased levels of online learning where possible.

There are further restrictions in place:

•If you live at university, you must not move back and forward between your permanent home and student home during term time. You should only return home at the end of term for Christmas. We will publish further guidance on the end of term.

Guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november#going-to-school-college-and-university

Travel advice

For travel advice, please visit https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice. We encourage institutions who are considering travelling to sign up for alerts. We are also keeping up to date with local government websites for any updates and restrictions, so kindly feel free to contact us if you need any information and we will refer you to the relevant websites.

IELTS

In accordance with local health authority and government guidance, we have resumed IELTS testing across the UAE. The health and safety of test takers and test staff is our number one priority and we have taken the time to put in place all precautionary measures to ensure our customers can test confidently at our test venues.For more information on measures taken, please visit: https://www.britishcouncil.ae/en/resume-your-ielts-journey-today . For information on test availability please visit: https://www.britishcouncil.ae/en/exam/ielts/dates-locations

For more MENA updates, webinars, market insights and other IES services, please go to your alerts settings and select updates from MENA. If you have any feedback or require any additional information, please contact me on dina.kanan@ae.britishcouncil.org

Thank you and stay safe

Dina Kanan

UAE Manager, International Education Services

BAHRAIN:

Public schools saw the return of students to schools. Students who opted for the blended learning option returned to school this week, while the national online learning plan continues to take place. https://www.newsofbahrain.com/bahrain/67455.html

COVID case numbers have been stable for the past week, and seeing significant improvement to end of September.

Contact Information: 

For more information about Bahrain, please contact Kawthar AlArab, Projects Manager, Bahrain  Kawthar.AlArab@britishcouncil.org.bh

EGYPT:

Schools new academic year

Dr. Tariq Shawqi, Minister of Education, announced the features of the new academic year, which came as follows:

• The new academic year 2021/2020 in schools has started on October 17, 2020, and studies in international schools started on September 15, 2020
• Working to reduce density by redistributing quotas and multiplication of learning sources without affecting the academic content that is supposed to be acquired by the end of the school year

The Minister of Education explained the ministry’s plan to students attendance, and it came as follows:

• Grades from KG1 – primary 3, attendance in "single shift schools" will be 4 days a week, and for "double shift schools" attendance will be 3 days a week, and the final schedule for student attendance will be determined at the school level.
• Grades from the fourth to sixth grades .. Attendance in "one-shift schools" will be two days a week, and for "two-shift schools," attendance will be 3 days a week, and the final schedule for student attendance will be determined at the school level.
• Middle & secondary schools .. Attendance will be two days a week, and the final schedule for student attendance will be determined at the school level.

The Ministry’s plan to make learning resources available in the new academic year, and it is as follows

• Grades up to the third primary .. The new system 2.0 interdisciplinary curriculum will be taught in the school
• Grades from the fourth primary to the third preparatory .. Explanation of all the prescribed curricula will be made available through several educational aids for students, such as: “The live broadcast platform for virtual classes, the electronic platform, the Edmodo platform. Several methods will also be provided for the preparatory certificate, which are:“ e-books, and a program Ask the teacher, the e-lessons library. "
• The first to the third grade of secondary school .. no books will be printed for students, and all books and educational materials will be made available on the tablet (about 1.8 million tablets have been provided), A number of basic educational aids and many auxiliary tools will be made available such as: “educational TV channels, a live broadcast platform for virtual classes, an electronic library and an e-lessons library, an“ ask the teacher ”program, and electronic interactive books.

Dr. Tariq Shawky, Minister of Education, announced the form of evaluation in the secondary school year 2021, and it is as follows:

• There will be an electronic exam and it will be corrected electronically using the new assessment system.
• 4 different exam forms will be designed by establishing question banks to present different exam forms with the same degree of difficulty in controlling cheating.
• Students will be given an opportunity to take an additional exam, provided that the higher score is calculated (an exam in June and another opportunity for improvement in August).

Universities

The Ministry of Higher Education also confirmed the 17^th October as a beginning of the new academic year with same approach of blending learning

Contact Information:

For more information about Egypt, please contact Sahar Khamis, Head of Education Programmes, Egypt Sahar.khamis@britishcouncil.org.eg

UAE:

UAE pupils will sit A-level and GCSE exams in 2021, UK education minister pledges

https://www.edarabia.com/uae-pupils-sit-a-level-gcse-exams-uk-education-minister-pledges/?utm_source=Edarabia+News+Group&utm_campaign=aa39192591-Mailchimp-Ed-News&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b0a68df948-aa39192591-115789681 

How will England’s coronavirus lockdown affect UAE residents planning to visit?

https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/transport/how-will-england-s-coronavirus-lockdown-affect-uae-residents-planning-to-visit-1.1103227 

Contact Information:

For more information, please contact Dina Kanan, UAE Manager, International Education Services (dina.kanan@ae.britishcouncil.org)