Dubai’s private education authority has announced new measures that are set to allow villas and apartments to turn into mini-nurseries, as official centres remain shut as a safety measure due to the Iran war.
The Knowledge and Development Authority (KHDA) released guidelines that permit “regulated nursery-style services operating in host homes, serving up to eight children from multiple families with assigned centre-led home-based learning staff and oversight”.
Under the strategy, early childhood centres and nurseries can send a teacher to a home to conduct one-to-one lessons, or teach up to four siblings of one family.
Universities, private and public schools in the UAE switched to distance learning after Iran began its offensive against Gulf countries on February 28, in response to a joint attack by the US and Israel.
Remote education for early years through to university students will continue until April 17 at the earliest, with this decision subject to regular assessment by education authorities.
A two-week conditional ceasefire remains in place, even after initial peace talks held in Pakistan failed to reach a resolution.
Extending education options
The “nursery-style services in host homes” would be an option that when early learning centres are shut due to bad weather, health, security or other challenging circumstances, KHDA said.
The move would cover early childhood learning so it could be delivered in a residence during the current mandatory remote learning period.
The staff sent to the home must be from a licensed nursery holding a valid KHDA permit.
The KHDA has specified that a parent, family member or family employee known to the children must be present and accessible during all the learning sessions.
Approval process
A risk assessment document must be completed by the nursery for each hub and submitted to KHDA for review.
All early childhood centres interested in providing staff for the home-hub must first apply to the education authority for approval and carry out their own assessment of the residential space.
The KHDA has provided detailed documents that must be completed before the satellite learning starts.
The new hubs can serve children aged from 45 days to six years. Hours of operation will be Monday to Friday, between 7am and 5pm. Children can attend for a maximum of eight hours daily and the hours must be agreed on, and put in writing, with the parents.
The nurseries or early childhood centres can charge fees for the hub service but will not be permitted to levy a fee in case the parents have already paid nursery charges.
The KHDA has urged that any charge should be “transparent and reasonable, and reflecting the cost of delivery”.
Teachers assigned to the home-learning hubs must be employees of the nursery, be qualified early childhood education practitioners, hold a valid Dubai police clearance certificate and paediatric first aid certification.
In case a learning assistant is sent to a home, the assistant should also fulfil the mandatory KHDA qualification requirements in early education and safety.
To ensure continuity, the same nursery staff should be assigned to a home and in case of staff changes, a proper handover is required.
The education authority said there would be no compliance visits before the home hubs are opened but KHDA would respond to any complaints and concerns.
The nursery must submit a weekly summary report to KHDA to include the number, names of children, teacher and learning assistant, any incidents or concerns, record staff absences, and feedback from parents and family.
The villas and apartments opened up must have basic health and hygiene systems in place in terms of bathroom areas, sleep and rest arrangements, meal and snack preparation zones, first aid kits and be aware of medical and allergy information of all children.
