Some UAE students start their day before sunrise
When Zoya, a nursery student in Al Majaz 3, Sharjah, got up at 5.50am on Monday to take her school bus, she moaned to her mother: "Why am I going to school at night?" That innocent question is emblematic of a new reality facing parents as the school calendar began to turn again after the winter break: some kids start school before the sun.
More than a million students were back in schools in the UAE on Monday, after winter break starting on December 17. Even though the first day of school was thrilling for some, families who travelled long distances and took their kids to school early were adapted to dark and cold mornings.
Since it’s sunbathing now, after 7am, there are students who begin their day before the break. Zoya, who attends Al Garhoud, Dubai, got up early to avoid rush-hour traffic. And she left a few months ago, when dawn broke, and now she starts at night.
This is not a Zoya thing. ‘When we went out to wait for the bus, the moon wasn’t out,’ Mirdif parent Nadia H said. "It felt surreal."
The early waking hours are made even more early by the weather. Fog or mist for some interior and coastal regions expected during the next few days, with light to moderate wind, said the National Centre of Meteorology. Rain late in the week – especially in the north and east – might call for families to budget.
For Sameera Khan in Bur Dubai, drier, colder mornings have meant small shifts. Her 8-year-old son who attends Jebel Ali school hates waking up in the dark. "He said it was bedtime", she said. "I hate to have them go like this in the winter so I wrapped him in a blanket.
And other parents are doing the same to keep their children warm. Jackets, scarves and gloves are now normal for students waiting for buses in the chilly dawn.
Schools in the UAE open between 7.30 and 8 am, which means it’s early risers for families that live far from their children’s schools. Some parents have started to call for a change in the time of year that schools should open at.
My son is resilient and he will grow up,’ Nadia said. But as parents we wish it were a little easier in the morning.
Another parent, Rishabh: "If we started 30 minutes later, it would help so much. "It would give kids a bit of a sleep and get them started on their day refreshed," she says.
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