COVID-19: Why these UAE-based students did not attend in-person classes this academic year

COVID-19: Why these UAE-based students did not attend in-person classes this academic year

Dubai: UAE-based parents who opted for full distance learning for their children during the COVID-19 pandemic have shared their reasons for the decision as well as plans for the coming school year. Schools had closed in March 2020 because of the pandemic and stay-at-home directives in place then. Schools reopened in September 2020 after the July-August summer break “” however, many students have continued till now to fully distance learn from home. Jude Kabarra, a Year 3 student at GEMS Metropole School “” Motor City, Dubai, has been fully distance learning since March 2020. His mother, Sahar Kabarra, said there were multiple reasons behind the decision, including, at that time, the unavailability of a vaccine against COVID-19. "With students and teachers returning from holidays in foreign countries, we thought the risk of infection was too high then. COVID-19 was also a new disease back then and we did not want to take any risks, as there was no vaccine at the time,“ Kabarra said. "We did not want Jude, who is seven years old, to wear a face mask and, for some lessons, headphones for seven hours a day. Furthermore, not being able to have normal physical activities meant we