KHDA Director-General says authority does not plan to impose uniform timings across Dubai’s diverse school sector.
For parents navigating Dubai’s busy roads to get their children to school on time, the length of the daily commute can be just as important as the time classes begin.
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) says Dubai schools can request changes to their operating hours, but any proposed adjustment requires the regulator’s approval and must take student wellbeing into consideration.
Speaking at the KHDA Media Majlis on Thursday, Director-General Aisha Miran said the authority does not intend to introduce uniform school timings across Dubai.
She explained that the emirate’s diverse education sector includes schools following different curricula and offering a wide range of extracurricular activities, making flexibility important when determining suitable schedules.
Miran said any school seeking to change its timings must first receive KHDA approval, with student wellbeing remaining a key consideration in the decision.
She explained that KHDA does not want to prescribe a single schedule for all schools because different curricula and extracurricular activities can create different operational requirements.
Dubai schools and the commute challenge
For families, however, the school day effectively begins well before a child enters the classroom. Early departures, long journeys and time spent in traffic can significantly add to the demands of the daily school routine.
Miran said addressing lengthy school commutes over the long term would require more than simply adjusting start and finish times. The issue, she explained, is also closely connected to how Dubai’s neighbourhoods and communities are planned.
She pointed to the Dubai Education Masterplan (E33) as part of efforts to bring schools closer to the communities they serve, potentially making safer and more active forms of travel more practical for students.
Miran said the broader ambition is to create an environment where more children can walk, cycle or use safe non-motorised alternatives to reach school rather than depending entirely on vehicles.
Schools to retain flexibility on timings
For students who travel by private car or school bus, Miran said the goal should also be to ensure reasonable journey times instead of treating changes to school schedules as the only solution to congestion.
She linked this approach to Dubai’s wider urban planning ambitions, which aim to make essential services and destinations accessible within approximately 20 minutes.
Ultimately, she said, families choosing private vehicles or school buses should be able to expect an acceptable commute, while schools retain the flexibility to set schedules suited to their individual requirements, subject to KHDA approval and student wellbeing considerations.
