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: The Ministry of Education further postponed the return of government schools to October 6.

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

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Exceptional travel permits to allow Saudi students who are on scholarship schemes to travel from Saudi Arabia to the destination country.

Kuwait:  Kuwait’s Ministry of Education has suspended all kinds of exams, both paper and online

Oman: The Minister of Education confirms that daily school hours will be 3 hours in low-density schools and 5 hours in high-density schools.

Qatar: New academic year begins with blended learning resumed

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 Service is not yet available in any location. Services and appointment availability are being kept under regular review. The current service standard for all visitor 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, a 30 day vignette expired before it could be used, 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

UAE students can now start university courses before applying for aUK study visa

https://gulfnews.com/uae/education/uae-students-can-now-start-university-courses-before-applying-for-uk-study-visa-1.73587562

Advice for UK visa applicants:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-uk-visa-applicants-and-temporary-uk-residents

Advice for Tier 4 students/Short term students

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-tier-4-sponsors-migrants-and-short-term-students

Advice on entering the UK and self-isolation requirements:

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

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, IELTS testing has resumed across the UAE. For more information on health and safety measures taken, please visit: https://www.britishcouncil.ae/en/resume-your-ielts-journey-today . 

Upon registering for IELTS, test takers receive:

• Access to Road to IELTS  – Free 30-hour online preparation course with 100 interactive activities and two practice tests for each of the four skills; reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
• Access to IELTS Counselling Service – A free service offering advice from an IELTS expert on how to achieve the desired IELTS score and prepare for the IELTS test. This is aimed at helping test takers achieve their desired scores through personalized virtual sessions and is currently available in the UAE, as well as in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.  For more information visit https://www.britishcouncil.ae/en/exam/ielts/prepare/counselling-service 
• Access to brand new IELTS for UKVI preparation materials, GEL IELTS Prep 
• Additional support:
• Online practice tests
• Free IELTS practice material
• Mobile apps for IELTS preparation
• Videos and tips

Please visit https://www.britishcouncil.ae/en/exam/ielts/prepare for further information on preparation resources.

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

BAHRAIN:

The Ministry of Education has further postponed the return of government schools to October 6.

https://alwatannews.net/article/891137/Bahrain/اللجنة-التنسيقية-تأجيل-عودة-الهيئات-الإدارية-والتعليمية-والفنية-بالمدارس-الحكومية-أسبوعين

Contact Information: 

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

EGYPT:

Schools & Universities

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 begins on October 17, 2020, and studies in international schools began on September 15, 2020
• Work is being done 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, or electronic platforms. Several methods will also be provided for the preparatory certificate, such as e-books, the program 'Ask The Teacher' and 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, 'Ask the Teacher' 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).

Contact Information:

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

KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Multiple media outlets report that authorities in Saudi Arabia will ease some restrictions for international flights, thereby allowing people who work in 'exceptional categories' to travel from 15 September.

The Ministry of Interior announced that starting 15 SEPTEMBER 2020, there is a partial lifting of the suspension on international flights to travel for :

• Government employees (civil and military who are assigned duties)
• Workers in Saudi diplomatic missions or attachés abroad, their families and companions
• Patients according to the medical situation (if treatment is required outside the Kingdom, in particular cancer patients or those in need of organ transplantation)
• Scholarship students and trainees
• Humanitarian cases (including the death of loved ones outside the Kingdom)
• Participants in sporting events
• Workers in permanent jobs outside the Kingdom
• Businessmen who have urgent working conditions (finishing businesses, visiting clients, etc.)
• Participants in regional and international sporting events
• Residents outside the Kingdom, and their companions

Exit and entry from the Kingdom will be allowed for citizens of the GCC countries

Entry to non-Saudis who hold the following visas:
Exit and Re-entry, Work, Residence and Visit

*International travel FOR ALL and opening of all ports will be on 1 January 2021

Saudi Arabia will lift totally the restrictions on citizens for leaving and returning to the Kingdom, with opening all land, sea and airports starting from 1 January 2021. This is in line with all Covid-19 related precautionary measures and protocols and provided that the entry is in accordance with the preventive health controls and procedures set by the committee concerned. Any evidence that the person is negative of Covid-19 must be presented. Tests must be conducted no more than 48 hours before arrival. The committee has the right to take preventive measures by suspending travel to and from countries where Covid-19 is common.

A list of the countries included have not been released to date

Saudi Press Agency

Contact Information

For more information and insights about the situation in KSA, please contact Rizwan Safdar, Project Manager, KSA (Rizwan.Safdar@sa.britishcouncil.org)

KUWAIT:

Kuwait’s Ministry of Education has suspended all kinds of exams, both paper and online, in the new academic year (2020-2021) for all educational classes until students are able to physically attend schools, Al Rai Newspaper reported quoting a source from the educational sector.

https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/kuwait/kuwait-no-exams-until-schools-open-to-students-1.73781392

Contact Information

For more information and insights about the situation in Kuwait, please contact Rasha Osman, Project Manager, Higher Education ((Rasha.Osman@britishcouncil.org)

Oman:

The Minister of Education confirms that the daily school hours will be between 3 hours in low-density schools and 5 hours in high-density schools. 97 schools will operate at full capacity, and these are the schools fall outside the scope of internet coverage. The new educational curriculum will ensure that students acquire basic knowledge, skills and values to achieve 180 academic days. The academic content has been reduced by 20-40% and exams will be held only at the end of each semester, while the final exams evaluation will be replaced with the continuous evaluation process. There will be an intensive educational campaign on the measures that must be taken in schools by all groups. The Ministry of Education has agreed with local companies to provide computers and internet package at reasonable prices to students.

Contact Information

For more information, kindly contact Zainab Al Barwani, Education Promotion Manager (Zainab.AlBarwani@om.britishcouncil.org)

QATAR:

Hundreds of thousands of students resumed studies as the new academic year began in Qatar at the start of September.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education will implement a blended learning system during the first term of the 2020/2021 school year across all educational stages and including government and private schools, higher education institutes and kindergartens.

More than 340,000 students are attending public and private schools in this academic year.

https://www.gulf-times.com/story/671899/New-academic-year-begins-with-blended-learning-fro

Contact Information

For more information, you may contact Paula Jensch, Project Coordinator Qatar, (Paula.Jensch@qa.britishcouncil.org)

UAE:

The Impact of COVID-19 on Education in the UAE

https://education-services.britishcouncil.org/news/market-news/impact-of-covid-19-education-uae

UAE school calendar 2020-2021: Winter, summer vacation dates announced

https://gulfnews.com/uae/education/uae-school-calendar-2020-2021-winter-summer-vacation-dates-announced-1.1600076468222

Two UAE schools make it to top 100 global list in latest Spear’s index

https://gulfnews.com/uae/education/two-uae-schools-make-it-to-top-100-global-list-in-latest-spears-index-1.73683561

Contact Information

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