Next years’ summer break for Independent schools in Qatar will begin on July 13 and end on September 7, according to the 2013-2014 academic calendar released by the Supreme Education Council (SEC) yesterday. Private schools may also have to follow a similar schedule, following SEC’s decision to unify the annual holidays of all the schools in the country. As per the new academic calender, schools will have a shorter-than-usual summer break next year, spanning less than two months. If the schools should start the summer vacation on July 13, they will be working for about two weeks during the holy month of Ramadan, that will begin early July, next year. This year all the schools were closed before the start of Ramadan. The Minister of Education and Higher Education H E Mohammed Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi, who is also the Secretary-General of the SEC approved the annual calendar for Independent schools for the 2013/2014 academic year. An SEC statement issued yesterday explaining the examination and vacation schedules of the Independent schools didn’t specify whether they apply to the private schools. This year and last year, only a few community schools were exempted from the SEC decision to unify the school holidays. Next year’s summer break for schools will be starting about two weeks late, compared to this year, when they were closed by the end of June. The reopening date has also been advanced by three days, thus reducing the duration of the summer break. This year, schools in Qatar had one of the longest summer holidays, stretching more than 80 days. Most private schools have also been following more or less a similar academic schedule, especially in the case of summer holidays. All the Independent schools and most private schools started their new academic session on September 10, with the exception of some community schools which resumed classes one or two days earlier. The 2013-2014 academic year for Independent schools will see the introduction of a break at the second semester, for the first time. The first semester will end on January 26, followed by a 10-day break, and the schools will resume classes on February 6. There will be another break during the second semester from April 13 to April 17. Teaching and administrative staff of schools would return to duty on August 28. As for students, the 2014-2015 academic year will begin on September 7, after the summer break. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/253422-schools-to-get-shorter-summer-break-next-year.html

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