Hours, Fridays, Ramadan and the UAE subjects
A day at a Dubai school
What the week actually looks like once your child is enrolled: the Friday finish, the Ramadan timetable, and the UAE subjects every private school must teach, whatever its curriculum. Every rule below is the regulator’s, with the source beside it. Where no rule exists and schools differ, we say so rather than generalise from one school.
Monday to Friday - and the 11:30am rule
The Dubai school week runs Monday to Friday, and Friday is the short day. From 9 January 2026, KHDA requires every private school in the emirate - and the early childhood centres operating inside them - to end the school day “no later than 11.30am on Fridays”, in the words of the reporting of its circular. The change followed the nationwide move of Friday prayers to 12:45pm. Instructional hours from Monday to Thursday are unchanged. “No later than” is doing real work in that sentence: a school may finish earlier, and some do.
Schools may also apply to teach online on Fridays for Grade 6 / Year 7 and above, but only after consulting parents and getting KHDA’s approval - so whether your child is in school or at home on a Friday is a school-by-school answer, and a fair question to ask before you accept a place.
Sources: Khaleej Times, 18 December 2025; Gulf News.
Start and finish times: no single answer
KHDA sets the Friday finish and the minimum teaching time for certain subjects, but not one start time for the emirate. Schools set their own, and they vary with bus routes and phase - early years often start and finish earlier than secondary. We do not publish per-school hours anywhere on this site, because they are not published in a comparable, verifiable form; the school’s own admissions office will tell you, and it is worth asking for the bus times as well as the gate times, which can differ by an hour either side.
Ramadan
Ramadan begins in February 2027 this school year, confirmed by moon sighting. KHDA issues its Ramadan circular each year, so treat last year’s rules as the shape of what to expect rather than a promise. For Ramadan 2026, announced in February 2026, KHDA set: the school day on weekdays must not exceed five hours; classes must conclude by 11:30am on Fridays; fasting students are exempt from physical education, with suitable alternative activities provided; and schools were encouraged to consider parents’ feedback when setting start and end times. Schools could also offer remote learning on Fridays during the month, subject to parental agreement and KHDA approval.
For a working parent the five-hour day is the part to plan for: it moves pick-up, it changes what the bus costs you in time, and it lands a month before end-of-year assessments in September-start schools. Ask the school in January what its Ramadan timetable was last year - most repeat it closely.
Sources: Gulf Business, 17 February 2026; WhichSchoolAdvisor.
The UAE subjects on every timetable
Whatever curriculum your child follows - British, American, IB, Indian or any other - KHDA requires a set of UAE national subjects to be taught as standalone lessons during official school hours, from Grade 1 / Year 2 up to and including Grade 12 / Year 13 where they apply. Schools use the student’s nationality as stated on their Emirates ID to decide which apply, and classes for Arab and non-Arab students are taught separately, because the curricula and the language of instruction differ.
| Subject | Who takes it | Year groups |
|---|---|---|
| Islamic Education | All Muslim students, Arab and non-Arab - taught in separate classes for each group | G1/Y2 - G12/Y13 |
| Arabic as a first language | Students registered as Arab nationals, including Emiratis | G1/Y2 - G12/Y13 |
| Arabic as an additional language | Students registered as non-Arab nationals | G1/Y2 - G9/Y10 |
| Social Studies | Arab students - taught in Arabic | G1/Y2 - G9/Y10 |
| Moral, Social and Cultural Studies | Non-Arab students - taught in English | G1/Y2 - G9/Y10 |
| Moral Education | Arab students - standalone or embedded in another subject, the school’s choice | G1/Y2 - G9/Y10 |
The requirements took effect from the start of the 2025-26 academic year, and from April 2026 for April-start schools. KHDA states the minimum weekly time per year group in its guide and calculates it in 40-minute lesson units; schools may run longer or shorter lessons as long as the weekly total is met, with 20 minutes the shortest permitted lesson. Foreign syllabi are not accepted as substitutes for these subjects - a point worth understanding early, because UAE equivalency for graduation depends on the MoE’s Arabic curriculum, not a school’s own Arabic course.
Two things here matter to individual families. From the 2026-27 academic year, timetables must be designed so that Arab and Muslim students in the upper years still have fair access to elective subjects; where a school needs to adjust an individual timetable to achieve that, it needs the parents’ consent and must report the case to KHDA. And for students of determination, exemptions or modifications are considered case by case, on evidence from qualified specialists - they are not automatic, and they are not refused as a matter of course either.
Source: KHDA - Guidelines for UAE National Mandatory Subjects in Dubai Private Schools (PDF).
Worth asking, in one visit
How long is the Friday day here, and is it in school or online for my child’s year? Who teaches Arabic and Islamic Education, and are they KHDA-approved for the subject? How much Arabic does my child get each week, and how do you group children who are new to it? What did your Ramadan timetable look like last year? If you are touring schools, the rest of the list is on visiting a school.
What we don’t publish, and why. Uniform rules, lunch and canteen policies, phone bans and hot-weather rules are set school by school, not emirate-wide. There is no regulator-wide source to check them against, so we do not carry them rather than print something tidy that turns out to be untrue at your school. If you think we have a rule wrong on this page, send us the correction - every one gets checked against the regulator.
Next: term dates for 2026-27, what year group your child is in, or the first 90 days after a move.
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