KHDA Parent-School contracts have been issued today, with a new addendum which lays out both parent and school responsibilities for the academic year ahead.
Dubai parents are required to sign a Parent-School contract each year in order to formally complete the enrolment of their child in school. This year, the standard contact comes with an addendum which makes clear the additional responsibilities, for both parties, brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
What’s in the new KHDA Parent-School contract?
The document lists 16 new responsibilities for schools. These include;
“Communicating to parents the school’s timetable and routine. The timetable should include the mode of teaching and learning (e.g. live lessons, recorded sessions, self-learning) with the number of live sessions per subject”
“Ensuring that resources required for home activities are not not burdensome on parents”.
The document defines expectations for a “flexible timetable” stating that a further responsibility for schools will be:
“Ensuring flexible timetable that accommodates working parents’ need to support their children when possible”.
Quite how each unique school will try to implement this particular provision will certainly be interesting to watch.
What are a parent’s responsibilities?
The document later turns to parent responsibilities. These include provision for distance learning. These will have been put in place should conditions require at home learning to implemented again. Parents must agree to:
“Make sure that students have the devices and and resources they need to access distance learning”.
The document goes on to set out health and safety requirements around suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19. Parents are required to:
“…immediately pick up your child/children from school in case they become sick or show symptoms of Covid-19. In case this happens, you must follow the protocols as advised by the school”
“In case your children/children test positive, you must not bring your child/children to school until tested negative. In this case, the school will ensure your child’s education continues through distance learning”.
Finally,
“In case anyone in your family tests positive for Covid-19, you must inform school and follow the protocols that the school advises”.
Last month, the KHDA issued schools with 118 guidelines for safe reopening in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
